Eye Contact
by E.A.Swan
Summary: Death had never frightened her. No, her fate was to be far worse, that much had always been certain. Erisu returns to Konoha in hopes of making a difference before her time runs out but an enigmatic jōnin who's spent his life in a lens of regret stumbles upon her dark past and lethal secret. He learns not only that he is capable of love but that no one is really what they seem.
1. Prologue

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 **EYE CONTACT**

 _ **A Naruto Fan Fiction**_

 _by_

 _ **E.A Swan**_

 **(** Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto **)**

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 **火** **Prologue 火 **

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Silk ravens embroidered the flowing indigo pleats of a long formal kimono, pale ash blonde hair swirling down to the extravagantly tied obi. Erisu kept her eyes fixed on the dark patterned fabric as she pursued her mother through the throngs of terrified civilians.  
"Yusha, Erisu, hurry up!" Their mother ordered, her voice high with hysteria.  
A boy with a long golden ponytail and sage green eyes grasped Erisu's tiny white hand.  
"Stay close to me!" He shouted over the caterwaul of frightened voices.  
"Oniisan, what's happening?" Erisu cried as a tremor shook the ground, knocking her off balance. The boy heaved her back to her feet and pulled her along after the glimmering kimono of their mother. Over the shadowy rooftops, through a haze of smoke, the frail girl glimpsed a massive beast raging through the fire. It's mountainous body was brilliant orange, fur bristling with aggression. Nine snaking tails lashed behind it, fanning the flames and toppling buildings. Erisu froze, hugging a stuffed cat toy to her chest in terror.  
"Erisu-chan!" A maelstrom of shouting people jostled the siblings apart and Erisu lost sight of her brother, his calls drowned out by the thunderous roar of the Nine-Tailed Fox.  
"Oniisan!" She screamed, stumbling through the chaos in search of his gentle freckled face. "Kaachan! Oniisan!" Her mother and brother were gone. Horrified, Erisu turned wildly and took in the massacre around her.  
Shinobi corpses lay mangled and burned around her, flesh seared and limbs severed. Blood pooled in the crevices of the cobbled street and ash fell from the sky like snow. Erisu's bare feet were slicked with soot and congealed blood, stinging from embers and broken glass.  
"Oniisan..." Her round blue eyes were reddened from the smoke and ash clung to her dark lashes. "...Yusha..."  
The pandemonium of frightened people had dissipated, the street emptied, and the tiny child was alone in the carnage and smog. There was a vicious crash as a colossal paw flattened the shop behind her. The earth quaked from the weight of its footfall and Erisu collapsed, her white nightdress staining red from the sodden ground. She gaped at the glistening scarlet claws and tattered fur, dotted intermittently with fragments of metal weaponry and splintered arrows. She was mere metres from the beast's flexing claws, curved and solid like bars on a cage.  
Then with a whoosh the Fox stooped and she was gazing into the jaws of hell. A deep guttural laugh burbled forth from the depths of the Fox as it pulled back its black lips, strips of clothing and flesh clinging to the wall of fangs. Steamy breath gusted forth, sending her long pale hair billowing out behind her as she stared up and into a pair of malicious, red hot orbs. The black blades that were its pupils floated in a vortex of blood, leering down on her with ecstatic bloodlust that penetrated her soul. Erisu was petrified by the heat of his gaze, her innocent face reflected back at her from the malevolent lenses.  
 _The Kyūbi had chosen its victim_.


	2. Author's Notes

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 **~ AUTHOR'S NOTES~**

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 _Good evening/morning/afternoon, Elle here._

 _(Feel free to skip this if you so desire)_

 **Eye Contact** is an adult oriented story and my first formal FanFiction. It's a dark romantic drama with a touch of tragedy and is written through the split perspectives of Hatake Kakashi and OC, Hakuchō Erisu.

"Sorry I'm late. I got lost on the path of life."

This fic takes place during the events of Shippuden and will stay true to the manga's canon. I'm obsessed with research and try to fact check any canon details before putting them in script.

 _(Because Kakashi's Anbu Arc was anime filler I don't consider it canon and therefore don't include it in my fic. However I chose_ _to use the Anime's Memorial Stone rather than the manga's simply because it's more aesthetically pleasing.)_

I also studied the complexities of Japanese courtship, Japanese architecture, the secret language of flowers, and even read several articles on Acid Throwing so as to fully understand it. ...I take fiction very seriously...

M-Rating was deemed necessary due to strong language, relatively detailed sexual content, graphic violence, mental illness, suicidal themes, rape, political and religious debates, instances of child abuse and neglect, and overall Mature subject matter.

Trigger warnings will be placed before particularly intense chapters.

I'm an enthusiastic amateur writer and really appreciate constructive criticism and pointers from my beloved readers. I will be cleaning up and revising my earlier chapters since my skills have improved since they were published.

I do all my writing on my mobile phone through two brilliant little apps, Novel Idea and Werdsmith. There's a lot of zooming and panning, copy pasting, and inconveniences involved in publishing from a cell so please pardon any errors you may find; editing is a nightmare ( _but feel free to point out spelling mistakes or bad grammar if you find it and I'll be happy to make the corrections-I love your feedback_!).  Please review, it's very educational for me!

 _The cover photo is an original image and my first time converting hand drawn artwork into a digital picture, so sorry if it looks kinda crappy._

 _Here's some trivia ( SPOILERS) for those who like that sort of thing (I know I do). If you don't care for such things carry on to the next chapter good fellow!_

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 **Erisu**

(from _Ελισαβετ 'Elisabet'_ , the Greek form of the Hebrew name _אֱלִישֶׁבַע 'Elisheva'._ Erisu is the Japanese version of the diminutive form of ' _Elizabeth-Elise'_ ) meaning: "my god is an oath" or "god's vow"

It can also be written as: 慧俐守 (kanji), エリス (katakana), えりす (hiragana)

She's named after the classical piano song: "Für Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven

 **Yusha**

(from Arabic: يوشع the Arabic form of Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yĕhôshúa or Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ. Yusha is the Japanese version of the name Joshua) meaning: "God is salvation"

In Japanese kanji Yusha is written as 勇者 and means "hero; brave"

He's named thusly due to his faith.

 **Hakuchō**

白鳥, スワン (swan)

(Yes, it's also part of my pen name because swans are awesome sauce. That's right, I said awesome sauce)

 _I_ _chose Hakuchō as Erisu's surname because of the phrase " Swan Song." _

The **swan song** (Ancient Greek: κύκνειον ᾆσμα; Latin: _carmen cygni_ ) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that Mute Swans ( _Cygnus olor_ ) sing a beautiful song in the moment just before death, having been silent during most of their lifetime.

Swans have long been associated with divinity, purity, death, and eternal love. They're prominent in the mythology of many cultures such as Greek and Norse...

In the Finnish epic " _Kalevala_ ", a swan lives in the Tuoni river located in Tuonela, the underworld realm of the dead. According to the story, whoever killed a swan would perish as well.

I also saw Hakuchō fitting for Erisu's surname because of their reverence in Hinduism and comparison to saintly persons whose chief characteristic is "to be in the world without getting attached to it, just as a swan's feather does not get wet although it is in water." This concept is, of course, in accordance to Erisu's acceptance of death and her attempt to not fall in love with those of the Material Plane.

The name also fits Yusha due to his aspirations to ascend to godhood being as many gods (such as Zeus and Apollo) took on the form of swans when on earth.

 **Aiko and Ookami**

Are based on my own cats, Princess Molly and Master Ralph. (Whose name's have essentially the same meaning only Ralph means "wolf _counsel_ ")

...unfortunately Ookami's story was actually inspired by the true events that surrounded the kittenhood of my tomcat. He is the most faithful creature I've ever met and truly considers me his surrogate mother due to the way I fed him with an eye dropper and groomed him with a cloth.

The drowning of kittens is a horrid truth and a terribly common thing in the countryside of Canada where feral cats become a serious problem and many people would rather kill the kittens than spend the money required to desex their cats. It's a sickening practice and...well, I can't even speak of it.

 **Kokuhaku**

I was rereading my story and thought I should define this aspect of Japanese culture for those who don't already know. Kokuhaku means "confession" but is more complicated than just expressing one's affections.

The act of a love confession is pretty unique to Japanese courting. As I understand it, it's more than just telling someone you love them in that it signifies the formal beginning of a romantic relationship and if one dates another person after confessing it may be considered cheating. Kokuhaku marks an exclusive commitment to the person to whom you've confessed.

(I had them speak in Japanese due to the differences between the multiple ways to say "I love you" such as Daisuke, Suki, and Aishiteru. All three terms have very different implications in comparison to the English word "love" so I felt the need to specify.

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Lastly if you're interested in some insight into Erisu's creation listen to _Koroi Torikago_ by _Kanon Wakeshima_ , the song that brought her to life.

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	3. Chapter 1: New Beginnings

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 **CHAPTER** **ONE**

 _ **Beginning at the End**_

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 **~Erisu~**

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The forest couldn't have cared less how pivotal that moment was, and Erisu envied its ignorance. In a few more paces the gates would be in sight, the journey would end and her life would begin.  
Her boots welded themselves to the path as she stared blindly ahead. Birdsong filled the crisp morning air, blossoms rustling above. It was perfectly peaceful but she was certain she could hear the city burning and feel the earth tremble as The Fox roared.  
 _That was fifteen years ago_ , Erisu reminded herself, _the Kyūbi is gone_. She forced herself forward and mounted the rise in the road.

Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves. It was the Land of Fire's secret ninja settlement, ruled by a Hokage and one of the leading powers in the Elemental Nations. It was also her destination, both longed for and dreaded.  
Two years had passed since she'd last seen its mighty wall. Two years since the wise and powerful leader of the Konoha ninja had fallen in battle, and two years since Erisu's best friend had committed suicide in her arms. But that was nothing more than prologue now. What mattered today was seeing the village of her childhood with her pale blue eyes at long last. This was her final chance to make her existence worth while, the last call for making a difference... All that mattered now was starting anew.

The massive oxidized copper gates stood ajar before her; the Konoha emblem, a spiral leaf, was emblazoned in red on the stone wall. Through the vast opening she could see the multicoloured shops and houses, and far in the distance, over the orange shingled roofs, she could just make out the ruddy line of Hokage Rock.  
She smoothed her short black kimono and passed into the village. The anxiety she felt quadrupled as she saw the throngs of civilians and shinobi bustling through the streets. It was as though she'd set foot in a memory for the village was virtually unchanged. Her two faithful cats, Aiko and Ookami, wound between her ankles encouragingly.  
Taking a breath to steady herself, Erisu plunged into the crowds and waded through strangers. For a village that she'd known since she was four years old, it was disarming to not see a single familiar face. She followed the Main Street, letting muscle memory guide her. Vague nausea and trembling weakness reminded her that she hadn't eaten in days, so she headed in search of a meal.  
As she went she observed the unique people all around. Children raced by, their youthful faces hidden by paper animal masks, armed with wooden tāntos and origami shuriken, reenacting ninja battles of old. She could feel their freedom, bliss, and energy, it coursed through her as if it was her own and she was spurred onward.  
Merchants called out advertisements for their wares while weary elders and stressed parents browsed their goods.  
Erisu glimpsed a ninja bidding his sweetheart farewell as he embarked on a mission, she understood his responsibility and trepidation. His teary eyed lover's mingled pride and worry tingled at the edge of her mind.  
She hadn't been prepared for the assault of emotions other people would bring.  
Erisu was an empath from the all but extinct Hakuchō clan. She could sense the desires, fears and intentions of anyone in her line of sight. A useful ability but also a great hindrance to an introvert like herself. Feeling so incredibly deeply was not always a positive trait.

Erisu found herself outside the dango shop she'd spent much of her youth in due to her notorious sweet tooth. She dipped her head and peered inside to find it packed with civilians and shinobi alike. Unnerved by the number of patrons, she retreated. Turning quickly she slammed into a fern green flak jacket. She immediately leapt backwards and bowed deeply in apology.  
"I'm so sorry O-sama," she said fretfully. "I didn't see you there."  
"No harm done," replied a leisurely voice and she looked up at a face almost completely concealed by a form fitting, midnight blue mask. "Seriously."  
His nearly black headband was lopsided, covering his left eye, and his hair was as silver as the metal forehead protector that bore the symbol of the leaf. She knew instantly by his uniform and intense aura that he was a high ranked ninja. Erisu gazed at him curiously, his hair was wild and nearly white in the daylight, spiky and swept sideways like metallic fire. She was certain she'd seen him before.  
"Have we met?" He asked, his question echoing her thoughts, "you look familiar." He leaned forward, hands in his pockets, and tilted his head. His visible eye was heavy lidded, the iris like a dark pool of liquid graphite.  
"I don't think so..." She replied uncertainly, instinctively back stepping, "I only arrived today."  
"I see." He straightened, eye fixed unblinkingly on her. "I could've sworn... Never mind." He swept away, tousling her short ash blonde hair as he passed. "Welcome to Konohagakure."  
She turned to watch him walk away, everything from his laid back posture to his wild hair seemed like a forgotten memory. She was certain they'd met before-even though she hadn't seen his face. Then Erisu hurried away, feeling rather idiotic, and considered skipping her evening meal altogether. She glanced furtively over her shoulder and spotted the silver haired ninja watching her silently from the mouth of an alley. Something about the steady gaze of that dark eye of his made her hair stand on end. With her heart inexplicably pounding, she quickly looked away and dipped around a corner out of sight.

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Erisu sat in the window of a shabby hotel room staring out over the peaceful settlement, remembering the missed opportunities of her shadowed childhood. Everyday she was painfully aware of her lack of headband, her solitude in place of comrades, and her nomadic lifestyle instead of the Will of Fire. She'd never know the pride of graduating alongside her peers, the comradeship of being assigned to a team, or the thrill of competing in the Chūnin exams. All she knew was regret and loneliness... And boredom, above all else was boredom.  
Ookami was growling possessively as he lapped at a serving of canned cat food while Aiko, oblivious of her mate's bad temper, was grooming his ears. Erisu ran a brush through her pale hair, peach in the warm glow of the setting sun, and changed into a casual nightdress. She crossed her legs on her bed and focused her chakra, concentrating it first in her hands then working her way up her arms and down her body to her feet. She could feel her energy humming in her toes and imagined racing over water like a true shinobi. After completing this daily ritual of chakra control she nestled herself into her pillows with a cup of tea, flipped open a book on medical ninjutsu, and read until the moon was high.

The sun had climbed to the apex of the sky by the time Erisu ventured back out amongst the civilians and their emotions. She strolled through the village in a daze, barely conscious that her surroundings were more than a dream, her head down and eyes low. It was exhausting being around people so she hurried onward through back streets and side roads devoid of others.  
Once free of the throngs of people and their suffocating thoughts, Erisu felt placid and confident again. She wandered instinctively to where her heart would always dwell.  
Leaning against a tree she gazed nostalgically at the vast building. Not only was it the school for ninjas in training but also the Hokage's Residence and where every mission was assigned to the shinobi forces. It was a beautiful structure strategically seated at the foot of the mountain with long corridors, massive classrooms, the great domed tower where the Hokage would sit, and a network of tunnels that spanned both below and within the great mountain.  
Above the sprawling building was the Hokage monument, where the faces of each of the Hokage had been carved in stone.  
The long hair and wise eyes of Hashirama of the Senju Clan, the founder of Konohagakure and the first shinobi to be christened Hokage gazed over the village beside his younger brother, Tobirama, whose face was framed by a happuri mempo. Next to Tobirama was the familiar visage of the Sandaime Hokage, Professor Hiruzen, who'd died during the Chūnin Exams two years prior. Beside him was the young Fourth, Minato, who'd died sealing away the Demon Fox.  
Erisu saw that the beautiful face of the first woman to ever hold the position of Hokage had been added alongside her predecessors. Tsunade-hime, granddaughter of the First and one of the three legendary Sannin, was now looking over Konoha as the current leader.  
Things really had changed since Erisu had been gone.  
She lowered her gaze back down to the academy and tried to ignore the irrefutable fact that she'd have graduated a decade ago if her mother had just protected her like mothers should...  
A class spilled out of a side door and into the training ground. Erisu observed the group of student sparring under watchful eye of their sensei and felt her melancholy fade. The students fought with martial finesse, already considerably dangerous and likely close to graduation. They were young yet formidable, but more note-worthy to Erisu was how every one of the students was so full of hope and determination, hungry to prove themselves as shinobi, to bring honour to their families. Even now, as children, they were already prepared to give life and limb for the protection of Konohagakure and the Hokage.  
It felt like only yesterday that she'd been studying in this very school, but at the same time it also felt like a lifetime ago. She tilted her head back to watch the clouds moseying across the brilliant blue sky, wistfully recalling the simplicity of life before things had gone so terribly wrong. The sun was already making the descent towards the horizon, she must've been here for hours. She lingered for a while longer before drifting away again towards the gates, unaware of the shinobi instructor's curious gaze following her.

Erisu wandered aimlessly through the village, rudderless and lacking purpose. She followed the forest paths she'd walked as a child and ducked through the alleys where she'd hidden from her mother. An extravagant house with a covered outdoor hall and exquisitely painted screens sat proudly in a vast rock garden. Erisu hesitated, noting the mildew on the rice paper and weeds in the yard; this house used to be perfectly maintained...  
Guilt hit her like a sledgehammer as she realized it was her fault. The residents might not even be here anymore. Then she glimpsed a burlesque woman with unkempt strawberry blond hair through the kitchen window. She'd recognize the handsome mother of her best friend anywhere. Erisu raised her eyes to the dark window at the peak of the roof despite knowing Miwa wouldn't be there, then turned away, too afraid to face her past just yet.  
Through the trees she caught sight of the charred skeletal structure of her childhood home and froze. Her cats mewed curiously, detecting her unease as she approached the remains of the building.  
The fire had started simply enough, a poorly designed candle that hadn't been properly snuffed. Within moments the wood and paper house had been ignited like kindling-books, photos, and precious effects obliterated in heartbeats. She could still remember the snapping sound of the grand piano's strings as the fire consumed it. But more than that Erisu could remember herself laughing hysterically as ash and embers rained down on her, laughing so hard everyone had suspected her of arson. She smiled humourlessly as she recalled that chaotic winter night and continued through the village without a backwards glance. Never seeing that house again would be a blessing.

When she reached the outskirts of the village she turned to her cats and gave them each a treat from her apothecary satchel.  
"I'm going for a hike, I'll meet you back at the hotel room, alright?" She said tenderly, stroking them each as she spoke, "the window is open and I've left food out for you."  
Aiko cooed in understanding and nuzzled her hand before bounding back into the village. But Ookami scowled at Erisu, his torn ears flat against his head, as though she was causing him a personal injustice.  
"Oh come on," Erisu knelt and showered him in affection, "I won't be gone long, but I'll be in the trees and I don't want to tire you out." The burly tuxedo cat huffed and averted his green eyes sulkily. Erisu kissed his scarred muzzle and got to her feet, ignoring the annoying dizziness caused by standing quickly, and said, "I'll be back in time for dinner with some tomago nigiri."  
Ookami finally accepted her decision, food was currency with him, and rubbed against her leg before receding into the shrubbery. Erisu watched his white tipped tail vanish before leaping into the branches of a nearby tree. She leaned against the rough trunk and drank in the scents of the forest with her eyes shut tight. The cold snowy mountains she'd fled were far behind her now and she was back in the lush flora of Konoha at last. Despite the unsettling memories that were resurfacing, she wouldn't have chosen anywhere else to be. It had been a long journey but she was finally home.

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	4. Chapter 2: The Copy Ninja

**火**

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 **CHAPTER TWO**

 _ **The Copy Ninja**_

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 **~Erisu~**

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The leaves above glowed like cut emeralds as the sun shone through them and dappled the forest floor in gold. Erisu moved soundlessly through the forest, revelling in the beauty all around her. The serenity and raw essence of nature melted away her stress. She wandered between the trunks of colossal trees in search of medicinal herbs to add to the already ample supply in her satchel.  
An avian alarm cry sounded in the canopy and birds scattered from somewhere ahead. A feeling of violent intent fell across the wood and Erisu moved instinctively towards the source. She formed a quick series of hand signs and melded into her surroundings. Camouflaged, transparent, she dashed up the trunk of a massive tree and bounded through the branches towards the chaos ahead.  
Crouching as silently as a cat, Erisu peered into the clearing below where three ninja had engaged in combat. Two against one with a Konoha shinobi on the defensive. The Konoha-nin was tall and agile, dressed in the standard uniform that marked him as chūnin level or higher, with his entire face, excluding his right eye, hidden by a form fitting mask and headband. His hair was spiky and wild, flicking leftward, silver as his steel forehead protector which was lopsided, concealing his left eye.  
The ninja from the dango shop.  
He moved with an almost lazy grace as he evaded the murderous strikes of his attackers. The enemy ninja wore nondescript black keikogis and no noticeable headbands to identify them as they charged in synchronization after the Leaf Ninja. A serrated chain extended between the pair as they flung it like a lasso, the silver haired man flipped out of the way, the blades only grazing him.  
He crouched, calculating, then pulled up his headband to reveal his left eye. Even from this height Erisu could see the brilliant red gleam of the iris and that inky pinwheel pattern that elicited a shiver of alarm and excitement. His mismatched eyes couldn't be natural, it was simply impossible, and the vertical scar that cut through his left socket lead her to suspect transplantation.  
She knew that eye, that impossible eye, as the infamous Sharingan of the nearly extinct Uchiha Clan.

The leaf ninja's foes hesitated as they too realized that their opponent somehow possessed the legendary Copy Wheel Eye.. Taking advantage of their surprise the shinobi acted, he formed a rapid series of hand signs, too fast to read, and grasped his right wrist like the hilt of a sword. Blue electricity sparked up from his hand, chittering like a thousand birds; he lunged.  
So was fast she almost lost track of him as he sped forward and impaled one of the ninjas with his lightning blade. There was a sickening squishing sound as his hand protruded from his foe's back. Scarlet sprayed across the leave strewn ground and the metallic smell spread through the woods. He retracted his arm, the electricity flickering out, and the black clad man crumpled into a heap on the ground, a puddle of red ooze rapidly expanding around him.  
Infuriated, the second attacker launched a flying barrage of daggers at the Leaf-nin who leapt out of the way with ease. In one fluid movement, the Konoha shinobi swung his leg high and brought it down with the crushing force of a war axe. His heel connected with his foe's clavicle and knocked him instantly onto all fours. In a blink, the agile man slammed his other foot under his enemies' chin, sending him flying backwards like a ragdoll. The unmarked ninja collided with a tree with such force that branches showered down on him from above. He fell on his face and lay still.  
Satisfied, the Konoha-nin tugged down his headband and nodded to himself. Erisu stared down in awe as the Leaf shinobi turned away, unruffled by the combat, and started to form another complex series of hand signs.  
Then Erisu sensed bloodlust and realized something was wrong. Without thinking, she launched herself from her hiding place towards the seemingly dead ninja. She broke her camouflage jutsu, materializing in midair just as the unmarked ninja leapt flexibly to his feet. He produced a long narrow blade which he aimed at the red spiral design on the back of the unaware man's vest.  
Erisu landed on him with full force and managed to redirect his aim at the last moment. The Leaf ninja turned in alarm as the blade whistled past him to plunge into a tree. Erisu wrapped her legs around the foreign ninja and flipped him onto the ground. She compressed the baroreceptors of his carotid artery and he lost consciousness. Pushing to her feet she dashed over to the Leaf shinobi who was observing her in unreadable silence. Their eyes met and recognition flickered in the dark depths of his visible eye.  
The Konoha shinobi staggered suddenly and slumped against a tree, cursing under his breath. Erisu, concerned, slunk cautiously towards him. His hand was pressed against his lower abdomen as he looked up at her sharply, his eye tracking her every move.  
"Please, it's alright." She bowed respectfully. "I'm a medic."  
He relaxed slightly but continued to monitor her approach. Then his eye closed and he groaned quietly, his fingers fluttering around an expanding stain of blood tat was soaking through his vest. He wobbled, pale, and muttered something unintelligible.  
"O-sama, please, you've been poisoned," she told him gently as he slid to the ground. "Don't move."  
She unzipped his vest and raised his dark shirt and kasuri mail to examine his injury. The serrated chain hadn't cut him very deep but small metal barbs were imbedded in the pale flesh of his abdomen. Erisu guided him into a sitting position and knelt between his knees.  
Her hands glowed and hummed with restorative energy as she carefully withdrew the shards. He exhaled sharply through gritted teeth but didn't move. Erisu smoothly slid them back through their entry wounds, making sure not to tear any other tissue on the way out. Once the blades were free the shinobi breathed shakily while Erisu examined the discoloured blood. It was tarry and black, she tasted it, spat, and immediately identified it.  
"It's a highly concentrated organophosphate attacking your central nervous system coupled with an antiplatelet to prevent your blood from clotting," she told him as she pulled a bottle and syringe needle from her bag. "Fortunately they're both rather common and I have the antidotes on me."  
"It's my lucky day," the ninja chuckled hoarsely. Erisu helped adjust him into a better position and got him to shoulder out of his flack jacket.  
"Do you have any forms of optic neuropathy?" She asked him as she filled the syringe with the antidote.  
"I have Sharingan side effects, does that count?"  
"The symptoms are similar but it won't react negatively to the medicine." She pulled up his sleeve and quickly disinfected his shoulder with alcohol. "This will start working within a minute." She injected the antidote into his muscle, and pressed a wad of cotton to the injection sight. "Apply pressure, please."  
He obeyed and she immediately resumed medical ninjutsu on his abdomen, pushing his shirt and lightweight kasuri mail further out of the way so that she could better access the injury. Thankfully the wounds were relatively superficial; as long as she stopped the internal bleeding he'd be fine. She concentrated, mending his tissue with her chakra, urging his cells to regenerate. The holes slowly closed beneath her glowing fingers and the smooth pale skin of his firm stomach returned to normal.  
She sat back and let out a long shaky sigh. "I've dealt with all the immediate threats." She put away her used medical supplies. "But we need to get you to a hospital to be seen by a medical ninja."  
The man frowned slightly. "You mean you're not?"  
She didn't meet his eyes as she bandaged his waist. "No," she replied airily. "Not a ninja, just a healer."  
"Then how do you know such advanced medical ninjutsu?" He asked her with polite curiosity.  
"I...read." She replied evasively. He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment then managed to stand on his own.  
"I need to call for back up," he said, then grimaced. "But I'm out of chakra."  
"That poison can affect chakra flow as well due to the system's close connection with one's nerves," Erisu remembered. "I'll give you some of mine."  
The ninja looked at her incredulously, seemingly confused. "But that's-" he began but Erisu had already performed the hand seals.  
" _Chakra Transference Jutsu_." She felt her energy rise and spread around her and pressed her folded fingers against his chest. Her chakra flowed into him like water into a glass, then as she withdrew the flow stopped. The silver haired man rolled his shoulders at the new energy and nodded graciously.  
Then with a twist of his fingers he started a rapid flurry of complicated hand seals.  
 _Ne Ushi Tora U Tatsu Me Uma Hitsuji Saru Tori Inu I_.  
He bit his thumb through his mask, drawing blood, then slammed his hand upon the ground.  
" _Summoning Jutsu_!" An inky black seal spread across the earth from his palm and a cloud of smoke billowed from the spot.  
A miniature pug with droopy eyes and shiny brown fur had appeared at the shinobi's feet. The dog wore a ninja forehead protector over the top of his wrinkled head and a Konoha blue vest with a scarecrow face embroidered on the back.  
"Boss!" The ninken greeted his master in a gruff voice.  
"Pakkun," the ninja addressed the pug, "I need you to deliver a message to Tsunade-sama with haste. Inform the Hokage that I encountered two Akatsuki spies attempting to map our defenses. One is dead, the other is unconscious and needs to be delivered to the Torture and Interrogation Force. Request a collection team to be dispatched and explain that I have been poisoned but have received first aid and am in no immediate danger."  
"You got it, Kakashi!" The pug bounded away and Erisu stared at the shinobi in renewed amazement. The silver white hair, unique lightening blade jutsu, ninja hounds, and famous Sharingan eye...  
" _You're_ _Hatake Kakashi-sama_..." She breathed in wonder, "...the Copy Ninja of the Leaf, Kakashi of the Sharingan..!"  
He ran his hand through his wild silver hair and looked away, embarrassed. "Just 'Kakashi' is fine.."  
Erisu bowed deeply, probably deeper than necessary. "I am Hakuchō Erisu, 'tis an honour to meet your acquaintance, O-sama."  
Kakashi paused, regarding her for a moment. "Likewise, Erisu-san," he replied softly.  
Then he strolled over to the two debilitated spies and bound them in wire. Erisu remained rooted to the spot, unsure if she was welcome to stay in his presence but opposed to leaving him unsupervised with the lethal poison still in his bloodstream.  
He wandered back to her. "Erisu-san." He smiled with his eye. "Didn't you bump into me outside the dango shop yesterday?"  
Erisu laughed anxiously, feeling increasingly daft. "Yeah. I'm truly sorry about that." Kakashi cocked his head slightly, considering something.  
"That was some quick thinking diverting the angle of the blade the way you did," he commented. "If you hadn't knocked that spy off balance I don't think any amount of medical ninjutsu could have healed me."  
Erisu smiled meekly. She didn't know how to respond to compliments, especially not when they were from someone so upper-class. He leaned against the tree where Erisu had performed first aid on him and let out a weary sigh. After a moment he slid down the trunk into a sitting position, grunting quietly in discomfort, and examined the tears in his discarded vest. Erisu cast a wary glance over at the two motionless bodies in the clearing then sat down across from him.

"I like to think I read a lot too," Kakashi began, "but how could you learn such advanced techniques through books alone?" Erisu looked into his heavy lidded eye and felt nervous in his presence.  
"Well I attended the academy for two years as a child and learned all the basics." She'd planned on keeping her head down for the next few months and felt uncomfortable revealing anything about herself but also thought he deserved an explanation. "I was expected to graduate at nine but was pulled out before the ceremony. I didn't want to give up on becoming a Kunoichi so I taught myself." Kakashi said nothing, he looked thoughtful. She shuffled, unnerved by his calculating gaze. "It's a rather long story."  
"Practicing ninjutsu without authorization is against the law," he said quietly, "it makes you a rogue and a threat to the Land of Fire."  
Erisu's blood ran cold.  
"I'm sorry?" She whispered in disbelief, "I didn't realize... I was just healing people..."  
"I believe you," Kakashi said reassuringly, "but I suggest you become a proper medical ninja. I'm sure you'd graduate the academy easily. And with chakra control like yours, it'd be a waste not to put it to full use."  
Erisu blinked. "I'm not too old?"  
"Hm? I don't think so." His eye smiled again. "How old are you? Fourteen?"  
"Nineteen," she corrected sheepishly.  
"Really?" He scratched his nose. "You look very young... But I'm sure we could figure something out."  
Erisu knew his words were genuine, his intent well meaning and looked at her knees to hide her emotion. She breathed slowly and swallowed the lump growing in her throat. Was she really going to be a ninja after all these years?  
"Erisu-san," Kakashi's mellow voice caught her attention. "The reinforcements are coming, would you mind helping me up?" She hopped to her feet and swung his arm around her, hoisting him up. He wobbled, leaning into her, then steadied himself and released her. "Thank you," he murmured pulling his mask further up the bridge of his nose.  
Four ninja accompanied by Pakkun dropped from the forest canopy. An eccentric man lead the group. His appearance was so fabulous and unusual that Erisu was momentarily disoriented.  
He had glossy black hair in a perfect bowl cut, thick eyebrows that were carefully groomed to resemble caterpillars, and gleaming white teeth. His under eye lashes were dark and lush and his cheekbones high and prominent. Beneath the signature Konoha flak jacket, he wore an embarrassingly tight, green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and his forehead protector on a red cloth around his waist like an obi. Erisu was positively dumbfounded.  
"Kakashi-kun," he greeted the other ninja in an almost exaggeratedly familiar manner. "You took down both spies on your own? I'd expect no less from my biggest rival!" He struck a pose and gave Kakashi the thumb's up while the Copy Ninja looked indifferently, giving the bizarre looking man a mere blink.  
"I'm glad you came, Team Gai," Kakashi said casually. "But actually I had some help from Hakuchō-san here." He inclined his head to Erisu. "She diverted a would be fatal blow, incapacitated one of my attackers, and saved me from a lethal poison."  
Erisu flushed as the squad of shinobi turned to stare at her. She identified a teenaged boy as a member of the esteemed Hyūga Clan by his eerie, pupiless lavender eyes. His face was slightly contemptuous and his long charcoal hair was tied loosely at his lower back. Beside him was a pretty teenaged girl with her dark hair in a pair of high set buns and her fringe slightly overhanging her forehead protector. She was dressed in a qipao-style blouse and hakama trousers, a massive summoning scroll was bound to her back.  
Another boy, appearing the same age as the other youth, looked like a miniature copy of the team leader with the same eyebrows, hair, and outfit, but his eyes were startlingly large and round in his youthful face and his lower lashes were even more noticeable. Erisu didn't remember Konoha Shinobi looking quite so dramatic.  
"I have not seen you before," said the unusual boy excitedly, "I am Rock Lee, Konoha's handsome devil! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" He spoke formally but exuberantly. Erisu, regaining her manners after her confusion, bowed.  
"Likewise," she said politely. "I'm Hakuchō Erisu, at your service, Team Gai." She could feel Kakashi watching her and her skin tingled uneasily.  
"Thank you for rescuing Kakashi for me!" Cried the team captain, presumably named Gai. "I would be lost without my rival spurring me into greatness!"  
Erisu's brow twitched nervously.  
"Rescue is too strong of a word," she objected hastily. "Kakashi-sama didn't really require my assistance." This ninja's emotions were so intense she found it hard to deflect them; he was almost dizzying.  
"Are you from the Hakuchō Clan of empathic genjutsu masters?" Asked the girl curiously. Erisu averted her eyes and nodded slightly. Kakashi's gaze intensified and her heart rate quickened anxiously. All the attention was making her queasy.  
"Kakashi-sama needs to get to the hospital," she said, forcing confidence into her voice. "I've neutralized the toxin but it's done substantial damage to his nervous and chakra systems. The effects of the antidote will fade in about forty minutes and he will become lethargic so time's of the essence."  
Team Gai accepted her authority and, with a meaningful nod from their captain, divided. The Hyūga boy and Rock Lee each hoisted a spy onto their backs and shot into the trees while Pakkun saluted Kakashi and vanished in a plume of smoke.  
"Gai-sensei and I can support you between us," the girl offered Kakashi but Gai shook his head, his massive grin sparkling.  
"There's no need, Tenten" he said jauntily. "Kakashi will ride piggy-back!"  
Kakashi's visible face went white and his eye filled with dread as he started to back away, but Gai was already squatting in front of him with his arms extended backwards.  
"Hop on Kakashi!" He insisted enthusiastically. Erisu glanced over at Tenten and saw her embarrassment and discomfort at her sensei's eccentrics. Kakashi glowered at Gai in defiance, his eye narrowed to a slit.  
"Get on Kakashi-kun and I'll have you at the hospital in ten minutes flat!" Declared Gai. "And if I don't I'll do five hundred sprawls!"  
"Even with your speed it'll take twenty minutes at least!" Tenten scolded him. Erisu suspected that she was the voice of reason in the team.  
"I'd rather walk," said Kakashi placidly. "I can't let a little thing like poison allow me to fall behind you." Erisu could tell Kakashi was sweet talking but it clearly worked on Gai who teared up and nearly sobbed with passion.  
"Damn it, Kakashi," he said hysterically. "I hate it when you act so cool!"  
Erisu stared at him in disbelief. *Is he for real*? Beside her, Tenten groaned.  
"Very well Kakashi, lean on me! We'll get stronger together!" Gai wrapped his arm around Kakashi's waist and hugged him against him. Over his shoulder Kakashi cast Erisu an amused eye.  
"Oh brother..." She heard Tenten mutter under her breath as she followed the two senior shinobi into the forest.  
Erisu hesitated for a moment wondering if she should follow or not and decided to tag along at a distance. They leapt through the trees with Gai (practically dragging Kakashi) in the lead and Erisu hanging a few safe metres behind. Tenten slowed to fall into step beside her.  
"I'm Tenten by the way," she said sociably. "Thank you for tending to Kakashi-Sensei."  
"Nice to meet you," Erisu replied timidly, "and it was the least I could do. I would've assisted him sooner but he seemed to have everything under control. Besides, I have no practical combat experience."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Er- never mind," Erisu stammered. "It's complicated."  
Tenten didn't press her and stared ahead at her captain fondly. "Gai-sensei can be a bit intense but he's an amazing teacher," she said affectionately. "He trained Lee, Neji, and me as Genin and I'm glad we're on his team now."  
Erisu felt that familiar longing as she wished she had that sort of bond with someone.  
"What about you?" Tenten asked pleasantly. "Who was your sensei?"  
"Oh erm-" but she was saved from answering by a jubilant howl from Gai.  
"C'mon! Stronger every day with the Power of Youth!" He bellowed. "We can go faster than this!"  
Tenten rolled her eyes and quickened her pace. Erisu let her get a little ways ahead before speeding up too.

* * *

Once they'd returned to Konohagakure, Tenten departed to report to the Hokage and Erisu was left alone with Gai and Kakashi. The latter had begun to tremble as the affects of the medicine started wearing off and Gai urged him towards the hospital.  
"Erisu-san," Kakashi said, stopping to meet her eyes. "I'll talk to Tsunade-sama and get back to you. Do you have a residence where I can reach you?"  
Erisu's stomach flipped unexpectedly. "Yes, I'm staying at the Seiiki Inn, room twelve," she replied in a small voice. "Thank you Kakashi-sama."  
He looked down at her kindly. "No, thank you." And then he headed off with the assistance of Gai who was ranting excitably about nothing in particular.  
Erisu watched him go with an unfamiliar sentimentality that confused her. She shook her head to clear it. If a jōnin as esteemed a Hatake Kakashi put a word in for her maybe she did still have a chance at becoming a ninja. But would the Hokage permit her? She turned her eyes to Hokage Mountain and gazed up at the beautiful face of Tsunade-hime. The powerful woman wasn't exactly famous for her compassion after all. Erisu's eyes shifted to the Third who had been the leader when she'd been at the academy; it was hard to believe such an amazing ninja could have died. Remembering her promise to her cat she headed off in search of a sushi shop.

As she journeyed down the street she passed a flower store and an idea occurred. She dipped inside, her eyes darting around, and hoped no one would notice her. Inside, the euphoric fragrance calmed her and she scanned the extensive variety of flowers and plants.  
"Can I help you?" Asked a sweet feminine voice and Erisu looked up at a gorgeous young woman with dark teal eyes and a waist long ponytail of white blonde hair. Erisu recognized her instantly but the girl's emotions gave away that she didn't know her customer, or at least, didn't remember her.  
"Oh, um." Erisu folded her hands in front of her. "do you have bluebells?"  
Yamanaka Ino, the beautiful girl, glided out from behind the counter smiling cheerfully. Her long slender legs and flat stomach were visible beneath a short, purple, sleeveless blouse and matching purple apron-skirt. Erisu noticed she wore mesh elbow and knee protectors and guessed she was also a ninja, but of course she would be by now.  
"Someone you want to thank?" Ino asked wisely and selected a trio of delicate blue bulbed stems, "here you are."  
Erisu held the elegant flowers gently, looking them over with a distant expression. She felt indebted to Kakashi even though he hadn't really done anything for her yet. She picked a cluster of white clover, a pink amaryllis, and a handful of dark grass. The lovely clerk chuckled, knowing the meaning behind each bloom Erisu chose.  
"That's sweet," she said as they made the transaction, "do you do ikebana?"  
Erisu smiled sheepishly, "occasionally," she admitted, "I learned the basics at the academy and my cousin taught me a bit when I was younger, but I'm still an amateur."  
The girl closed the till and flicked her long side bang, "anyone can find peace through nature just as anyone can enjoy painting."  
Erisu nodded in agreement then bowed in farewell and departed.

Back at the inn, Erisu curled up on the windowsill and arranged the flowers in a simple glass vase. She centered the single amaryllis and framed it with the gracefully curving bluebells. She let the clover fan out to one side and spiked the thin fronds of grass behind it all, the dark blades making the flowers stand out.  
She set the arrangement on the dining table and shared a box of tofu yakisoba and sweet egg with the cats. She'd get a nurse to deliver the flowers for Kakashi, she'd be too shy to present them in person.

* * *

 **火**


	5. Chapter 3: Hopes and Dreams

**CHAPTER** **THREE**

 _ **Hopes and Dreams**_

~Erisu~

Iruka-sensei was a handsome young man with caramel skin, a dark, highest ponytail, and gentle black eyes. A long horizontal scar marked the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard Konoha-nin uniform with his headband tied around his forehead.

"Good afternoon, Erisu-san," he greeted her pleasantly as Erisu slipped nervously into the empty classroom, "I'm Iruka-sensei, and I'll be overseeing your exam. Please, take a seat." She obeyed mutely, slipping soundlessly onto a long bench at the forefront of the large room. Iruka positioned himself behind the podium before a vast blackboard and rearranged some papers in front of him.

"When Tsunade-sama explained your situation and requested me to test you I'll admit I was intrigued," he told her as he carried some papers over to her desk, "so I took the liberty of reading up on your academy records from your childhood."

"Oh," she wasn't certain how to respond.

"I was impressed to say the least," he set a stack of papers before her, "can you really perform a chakra transference jutsu?"

"Yes," she managed to speak at last, "I think that's what caught Kakashi-sama's attention.."

"Yeah," Iruka chuckled, "I'd think so." He leaned against the work surface and regarded her curiously, "who taught you such an advanced technique?"

"I taught myself," she replied, "I was... Thirteen, I think?"

Iruka stared at her, "really?"

She shuffled on the firm bench and met his eyes, "I'd read about individuals with the rare capability of draining the chakra of others to add to their own and hypothesized that I could reverse the process to benignly gift one's chakra to another. I had already been learning medical ninjutsu which works by projecting one's chakra into tissue to rejuvenate. Building on that method, I formulated a jutsu that would send my chakra directly into another's system and combine harmlessly with their own."

Iruka was quiet for a moment, "...and you were thirteen? How long did it take you to come up with this jutsu?"

"Two weeks," she answered as she remembered her desperate drive to master it quickly, "give or take a few days."

"Well," Iruka headed back to the podium, "I have no doubts you'll pass the test then." He positioned a timer on the polished surface and said before starting it, "as before you'll be completing a written test first and then I'll give you a physical evaluation of basic taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. You have thirty minutes to complete the test." The timer started and Erisu got to work.

She flew through questions on ninja rules, regulations, and hierarchy; answering the many ways to identify genjutsu and escape it, and a variety of general true and false facts about chakra. The final page requested that she write a paragraph on what it means to be a shinobi-she wrote two. The test complete, she looked up at the timer and noticed she still had fifteen minutes so she ensured she'd made no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Satisfied, Erisu caught Iruka's eye and gestured towards the completed exam. He shut off the timer and collected her papers.

His dark eyes roved over the pages briefly, nodding in silent approval.

"Everything seems to be in order, I'll grade these later," he regarded her with a crooked smile, "shall we move on to the physical?"

"Yes sir," she rose and followed him to the front of the class.

"Please perform a Transformation Jutsu," Iruka folded his arms.

Erisu nodded and formed the hand signs: Inu, I, Hitsuji; she focused her chakra and transformed into a perfect doppelgänger of Iruka-sensei. Wanting to further impress him, Erisu leapt onto her hands in a flawless back handspring to demonstrate that she could engage in combat whilst maintaining the illusion.

"Very good," he praised as he wrote something on his clipboard, "now create a clone please."

"In my form or yours?" She specified in Iruka's deep voice.

He smiled, "yours will do."

Erisu returned to herself in a plume of smoke and performed more signs: ram, snake, . An identical copy of herself appeared at her side, hands folded in the hand seal. She'd created an intangible copy of her own body, without any substance. A very useful genjutsu to confuse one's enemy, and a technique she'd used in her travels quite often as a diversion when she'd needed to escape bandits and highwaymen. Iruka jotted down more notes on his pad after examining the clone meticulously.

After a brief assessment of her fighting capabilities, Iruka was satisfied.

"You definitely meet the requirements for genin rank," he told her at last, "i have a feeling you're less interested in ceremony and more eager to get I with your training right?"

Erisu nodded excitedly.

"I hereby present you with your Konohagakure forehead protector. Wear it as a promise to uphold the ninja law and as a pledge of loyalty to your Hokage." Erisu bowed deeply as she accepted the headband she'd desired since her earliest memories.

"Congratulations Hakuchō Erisu," Iruka said solemnly, "you're officially a ninja."

Later that day Erisu was photographed for her new identification, given her ninja registration number, and fitted for a Konoha uniform (excluding the green flack jacket as that was generally reserved for chūnin rank and higher). But Erisu, who kept her left leg completely bandaged at all times, found the lose fitting, midnight blue trousers too bulky. Being rather handy with a needle and thread, she tailored them to her legs, reinforcing them with a durable layer of canvas and adding several hidden pockets.

She dressed in the form fitting, turtle necked, dark blue undershirt that could be stretched to cover one's face for anonymity. Using the leftover fabric from her trousers, she designed herself a shoulder length, reinforced, fingerless glove for her left arm (complete with a metal plate to protect her hand), and bandaged her right arm from fingertips to armpit.

Erisu wound a short tensor over her right thigh and strapped her kunai holster over. She wrapped herself in a short, sleeveless, black kimono, binding her waist in a thick silver obi. At last she tied her forehead protector around her stomach, inspired by Maito Gai and Rock Lee, and tried (and failed) to smooth her perpetually messy hair.

Erisu looked at her reflection in the mirror, staring at her round pale face, and allowed herself a small smile of triumph. She was a shinobi, a real shinobi. Vague memories of the masked Anbu boy who'd saved her from the Kyūbi danced across her thoughts. That unidentified boy had walked through fire, putting his own life in peril, to save an unimportant little girl. His selfless act of bravery was what had inspired her all those years ago to pursue a ninja career, to fulfil her debt to her saviour by defending Konohagakure and everyone in it.

Although his appearance had been mostly forgotten over the years, she could still recall his words to her with perfect clarity.

"A true shinobi defends his comrades no matter the cost. I'll protect every one of you with my life, that's my ninja way."

Those words had become the basis for everything she'd done in her life, from her ambition to excel at the academy, to giving her own chakra to another, fighting to protect everyone around her with an unquenchable ferocity... His words had made her who she was today. She was going to give back to the village who'd forged her and find some way to make a difference before the end.

Erisu's heart was hammering with anticipation as she waited for her now very late sensei. She couldn't believe this was finally happening after so many years of training alone. She watched the clouds drifting over the azure expanse above and sighed, her life was finally beginning.

"Yo," said a leisurely voice, "sorry I'm late. I got lost and had to get directions from an old lady selling durians." Erisu stared up at the silver haired shinobi who was sitting in the tree above her, a novel in his hand. She blinked. His relaxed posture gave her the sneaking suspicion that he'd actually been concealed in the branches for some time...

He stowed away his book, dropped from the tree, landing nimbly in front of her, and plunged his hands into his pockets. He seemed bored and detached as he looked down at her calmly.

"Good morning Kakashi-sama," Erisu greeted him kindly.

He waved his hand, "it's 'Kakashi-sensei now, Erisu-san." She dipped her head in acknowledgement.

"I thought we could spend today getting to know each other before we get started on any serious training." He said and gestured for her to follow him.

She walked solemnly beside him as they headed along the empty road towards the training ground. They moved in synchronization, in step with each other. Neither spoke. The forest parted and they emerged in a vast grassy clearing. In the centre stood three stumps.

"Let's talk." He strolled over to one of the thick, battered posts and bounded onto it with ease, where he crouched on his toes to observe her.

Erisu followed him hesitantly and lowered herself onto her knees in the springy grass.

"So," he propped his chin on his hand, "tell more about yourself: your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, and hopes for the future. Y'know, that sort of thing." Erisu's brows raised incredulously; he was unpredictable.

"That's rather personal," she said uncomfortably, "but if you insist... I like solitude and research. I tend to keep more to myself and prefer the company of my cats over most people," she thought for a moment, "I dislike narrow mindedness and arrogance, unlawfulness, prejudice and generalized unkind behaviour. But above all else, I particularly despise onions."

" _Onions?_ " He repeated, his eye opening fully.

She nodded fervently, "they're repulsive. As for hobbies... I'm an avid reader, everything from fantasy novels, thrillers and romances to autobiographies and historical documents. I also enjoy pencil art and creative writing. I'll occasionally write essays on a particularly intriguing topic that I come across in my studies to maintain my writing skills." She was beginning to feel rather egg-headed so she hurried along, "my dreams... I'd rather not say," Kakashi watched her silently, "hopes for the future... To be useful and give back to Konoha in a way that impacts the village positively and aids the people."

He nodded, satisfied, then spoke, "alright, let's move on."

"Senpai-I mean sensei, aren't you going to tell me about yourself as well?" She asked tentatively.

"Me?" He pointed innocently at himself, "there's not much to tell. I'd rather not waste time since we got off to such a late start." Erisu's brow twitched, had he forgotten he was the one who'd arrived an hour late?

"So," he began, "you're nineteen and from the Hakuchō clan?"

Erisu nodded.

"I'm not familiar with the Hakuchōs, do they have a Kekkai Genkei?"

"Yes, sir," she replied quietly, "the Himitsugan. 'Tis an empathic eye technique used to access the secrets of enemies, not as powerful as Sharingan or well known as Byakugan, being rather rare even in our own bloodline and more similar to telepathy and mind transfer jutsus than the three great eye techniques."

"Oh?" He sounded genuinely interested now.

"We can tap into another's emotions through eye contact," she explained, "their desires, fears, and intentions all become as plain as though they'd expressed them verbally. So Hakuchōs made talented interrogators in the past due to our empathic abilities and innate talent for genjutsu."

"In the past?" He queried.

"Most of the clan was wiped out in the Second Shinobi World War," she told him, "the majority of the remaining members now make their livings as ordinary citizens." Her thoughts strayed briefly to her mother but she hastily pushed them away.

"But of course, like most jutsu, Himitsugan has its drawbacks as well," she went on, "for individuals with particularly powerful visual prowess we are sometimes able to pick up on other's emotions by simply being in their proximity."

"Yes, I can see how that could be a problem," Kakashi agreed.

"It takes a lot of practice and discipline to learn to turn off one's empathic sense," Erisu said, "and being in large crowds can be exhausting."

"I'm guessing you have this more powerful version of Himitsugan?" His voice was indifferent.

"I do."

"Have you learned to control it?"

"For the most part," she answered honestly, "I can block out the emotions of most, like ignoring the sound of a noisy crowd, by focusing on specific emotions, such as my own."

"Fascinating," Kakashi watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye, "are you reading my emotions now, then?"

"Of course not!" She exclaimed, "that would be rude."

Kakashi chuckled, "that's reassuring. So how would you put this ability to use in the field?"

"Well," she dreaded the thought of the jutsu, "in combat 'tis combined with genjutsu to create the worst nightmare for each particular victim. The technique is called Seishin-tekina akumu: Mental Nightmare."

"Really?" He was impressed, "have you performed this before?"

"Twice," she confessed in a scarce voice, "I'd only do it in a life or death situation. 'Tis unpleasant for the caster as well."

"How so?"

"Being an intensified version of empathy, when we sense another's emotions we experience them ourselves," she said slowly, "so even though we have far greater trauma tolerance and emotional control than others it can severely drain us of chakra and disorient us if 'twas an especially horrible nightmare."

"Hm," he nodded in understanding.

A murder of crows had gathered in the sweeping branches of a nearby willow tree and were watching the two people in the hollow below. Erisu let her eyes wander during the brief lull in conversation. In the distance the sounds of combat training could be heard on the faint breeze.

Then Kakashi asked, "so what are your strengths and weaknesses in combat?"

"I use predominantly genjutsu and medical ninjutsu," she replied, turning back to him slightly reluctantly. She didn't usually talk this much. "I know several camouflage techniques and depend mainly on stealth and speed."

"Your favoured weapons and tools?"

"Smoke bombs, flash bombs, paper bombs, wire, poison, throwing knives and archery."

"How's your taijutsu?" He asked.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "I've done plenty of training but have never actually needed to engage in a hand to hand fight since the academy."

He raised his brow in surprise, "really?"

"I don't have much experience in combat overall, besides a few run ins with bandits or rogue ninja, most of my abilities were used to help wounded villagers or to frighten off bandits. Although I did fight a couple of Sound Ninja during the Konoha Crush."

"You were present during the attack?"

"I made a trip back to the village to see Uchiha Sasuke compete in the Exams," she hesitated then decided honesty would be best, "I knew his brother."

Kakashi thought about this for a moment, scratching his jaw absently, then said, voice even, "Sasuke was my pupil before his defection, and I knew Itachi from his time with the anbu. People came from everywhere to see Sasuka and Gaara of the Sand's fight. How did you find the battle?"

"I was impressed to put it mildly," she smiled nervously, trying to conceal the surge of admiration she felt for this talented ninja before her, "especially when he used your signature move, the chidori."

"You're familiar with my jutsu?" There was an undertone she couldn't quite read.

"Yes, sir, anyone who knows about the Third Shinobi World War or pays attention to current events knows about you and your lightning blade," she decided to grasp the opportunity to expand her knowledge, "the change in chakra form and nature of the chidori s'most astounding. I imagine one would need the Sharingan to make up for the disorienting speed one has to move at to wield it?" Even without her Himitsugan she could tell he was impressed, and maybe even flattered.

"Exactly, yes," he answered, his eye fixed unblinkingly on her, "and that's why Sasuke was the only person I could teach it to, being one of the only two remaining Uchiha."

"I don't mean to pry, but I'm curious as to how exactly your eye was transplanted. Please, sir, would you illuminate me?"

He averted his gaze, "it was performed on the battlefield by a very talented medical ninja" he told her in his deep, aloof voice, "I'd rather not discuss it at this time."

"I'm sorry, O-sama," she mentally slapped herself for being so tactless, "I imagine s'personal, I didn't mean to offend-"

"You didn't," he interrupted, "In fact I applaud your curiosity. And I'm interested as to how well you knew Itachi, he's one year your senior so you must've been in the academy around the same time."

On the topic of sensitive subjects, Erisu felt her mouth go dry as it always did when others mentioned his name.

"Yes, Itachi-senpai and I crossed paths often, although I wouldn't say we were friends," she told him, "he wasn't particularly social."

Kakashi seemed to detect that he was making her uncomfortable for he changed course, "and did you know Sasuke?"

"I've never spoken to him but I know of him, as I did then," she thought of the soft spoken and gentle Itachi, training with his kid brother in the forest, "I..." She hesitated, wondering if it would be inappropriate to say, "... I monitored his progression in the academy after..." The words caught momentarily, "...after The Uchiha Downfall. He's a very promising shinobi."

Kakashi's brow twitched slightly, "you used present tense."

"I'm sorry?"

"When speaking of Sasuke's promise you spoke in present tense," Kakashi murmured, "Do you believe it possible for him to be saved?"

"Revenge is a parasitic desire," Erisu replied evasively, "but I try to keep an open mind and stay optimistic. They say 'nothing is impossible' but that's obviously completely false." Kakashi raised his brow. "However, people do often underestimate their own abilities and the abilities of others. While plenty of things are clearly impossible, just because one can't jump over the lowest mountain doesn't mean one can't climb over the highest one. I don't believe he's beyond saving, whether he wants to be saved is another matter entirely."

"Spoken wisely indeed," Kakashi said quietly after a moment, "it's odd, you're nineteen years old with the face of a child and the eyes of an elder. How'd you manage that?"

Erisu smiled humourlessly, "some experiences age one's soul but not their body."

"Experiences like the Konoha Crush?"

"Twas a horrendous event but not as terrible as many of the trials Konoha has faced in the past, and will face in the future. The village will persevere."

"I meant your own experience, not the village's as a whole." He said, with a mild spice of amusement to his words.

Of course she'd known this but had tried to deflect revealing anything else about herself. But now that he'd asked directly she couldn't refuse to answer.

"I was in the spectators booth when the Temple of Nirvana was cast," she decided to get it over with quickly, "I identified the genjutsu by the feather illusion and dispelled it before I could lose consciousness. I did my best to fend off the attacking shinobi and defend the civilians 'till the retreat was sounded. I saw Jiraiya-sama defeat Orochimaru-sama's summoning snakes and attended the Third's Funeral. I left the village before Tsunade-Hime was instated for personal reasons and hadn't been back until just recently."

"I find it interesting how you say you 'defended the civilians' while you yourself were a civilian at the time," he commented, "have you always seen yourself as a shinobi?"

"I decided to become a Kunoichi when the Kyūbi attacked," she told him, "I was rescued by an anbu member and decided I too wanted to protect the people of Konoha."

His eye squinted into an approving smile, "during the Konoha Crush, considering you said you hadn't been in any hand-to-hand fights since the academy, how did you fight the enemy ninja?"

"Genjutsu and ranged attacks," she answered with a sheepish smile, "lots of bombs and my Himitsugan."

"Well since you've already mastered chakra control, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. We'll focus on your taijutsu for now. If you're going to survive the Chūnin Exams you'll need battle practice." Kakashi decided as he jumped down from the stump, "attack me."

Erisu stared at him in confusion, "I'm sorry?"

"We're sparring," he explained stepping away from the posts as he spoke, "attack me."

"But, sir, I thought we were just getting to know each other?"

"We are."

Erisu eyed him suspiciously, was this a trick? He hadn't entered a fighting stance and was standing casually with his hands in his pockets watching a butterfly fluttering between some nearby flowers. She was uncertain whether he meant it or not.

"Attack me," he repeated, tone calm, "seriously."

She stepped back and raised her fists with wide, nervous eyes. Kakashi pulled out his book, flipped it open, and started to read. It was entitled "Make-Out Violence", an illustration of a chibi man and woman fighting was depicted on the cover; there was an age restriction on the back. She lowered her fists in confusion, was he messing with her?

Then he was against her with a kunai pressed to her throat. His flak jacket brushing her, she could smell his clean skin accompanied by the subtle scent of chrysanthemums. She froze, he was still reading.

"Lesson one: always keep your guard up," he said cooly, eye still fixed upon the pages of his book, "and don't let appearances deceive you."

Erisu dropped her head guiltily, "sorry, O-sama." He stepped away and turned the page distractedly.

"Don't apologize, attack me," he ordered.

Erisu was paying close attention to him now, and backed cautiously away. She understood that him reading was a tactic meant to unnerve her. She let herself focus on him, to pick up on his emotions but was disappointed to find him to be adept at concealing them. Everyone had always been an open book to her but he was disorienting and difficult to read.

"You're trying to sense me now, Erisu-san?" He asked serenely without looking up, "any luck so far?"

Her insides squirmed unpleasantly and she lunged. She feigned a punch, causing him to lean to the side; then she dropped into a swift squat, aiming a sweeping kick at his ankles. He hopped over her leg and looked up from the novel, his heavy lidded eye making him appear half asleep. He closed his book and ran his hand thoughtfully through his hair while Erisu leapt away.

"Your form is good, speed very good, power acceptable," he analyzed, "your technique is adequate but your confidence is lacking." He paused, considering something.

"Do you consider yourself to have low self esteem?" He asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Are you confident in your abilities and identity?" He said patiently.

Erisu sighed, discouraged, only a few minutes into training and he had already caught onto her poor self image.

"Not particularly," she answered stoically.

"Do you have many friends?" His iris was like a pool of quicksilver.

"No, sir," she set her face into an emotionless mask.

"None?"

"None."

"Hm," he tucked his book back into his pouch, "do you have any family here?"

Erisu was feeling claustrophobic despite being in an open meadow, "Not anymore."

Kakashi regarded her carefully for a few moments then smiled with his dark eye, "well, in that case I want you to consider me your friend and family, Erisu."

She stared at him, not registering, then dropped her eyes in embarrassment. A hand clasped her shoulder comfortingly, warm fingers on her bare skin, and she looked up at his masked face.

"Teamwork and comradeship are what a ninja squad depends on to succeed," he told her, "have you heard of the Will of Fire?"

She nodded as fleeting memories of a liver spotted face passed her vision, "The Third Hokage-sama spoke of it often." Kakashi released her shoulder and she could feel the flesh where his hand had touched tingling as if he'd zapped her.

"That fiery desire to defend our comrades and never betray our loved ones is what sets Konohagakure apart."

Erisu nodded and smiled gratefully at her sensei.

"I just remembered," he looked sharply towards the village, "I forgot to water my plants."

Erisu opened her mouth to protest but he'd already signed a space/time jutsu.

"See you," and he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Erisu stared at the spot her sensei had been for a few moments in confusion, then let out a long sigh and headed off towards the village.

Kakashi was an elusive puzzle, intriguing but maddening. It was very rare, even among shinobi, for someone to be so immune to her senses.

She passed through the gates and strolled towards her hotel room. She'd have to get a job if she was going to continue staying at the inn. She doubted she was going to be getting very good paying missions at this point and decided she'd better start hunting for a flat.

She nicked a newspaper as she neared her temporary abode and browsed the classifieds in search of affordable housing and job offers. She was adept at walking and reading, able to keep track of her surroundings with her peripherals while simultaneously devouring the words. She effortlessly maneuvered through the jostling crowd, eyes roving intently over the paper, when a sudden shout caused her to halt.

"Erisu-chan!" It was Tenten, waving cheerfully from a nearby restaurant.

Reluctantly, Erisu waved back, forcing a friendly smile. She folded the paper and approached. Tenten was accompanied by the brooding Hyūga boy, Neji.

"I heard Kakashi-sensei took you on as his personal student," Tenten said, inviting Erisu to join them, "he's an amazing ninja. Naruto-san was his pupil and went on to become the apprentice of Jiraiya-sama, and Sakura-san is the student of the Hokage!"

Erisu sat beside the younger girl on the long bench and smiled weakly, "yes, I'm very honoured and I hope to make him proud." Neji was analyzing her with cold eyes.

"Have you met Sakura-san?" Tenten asked, "I bet you and her will become part of Team Kakashi."

Erisu's cheeks warmed slightly, "no, I haven't met her. And he didn't mention anything about joining his team."

Tenten was surprised, "but with Naruto-san due back soon they'll certainly be forming into a team. And surely with Sasuke-san gone they'll be needing a fourth member?"

Erisu hadn't realized this and frowned thoughtfully.

"Do Naruto-san and Sakura-san know that Kakashi-sensei has a new pupil?" Neji asked sceptically.

"I'd imagine so," Tenten replied, "they are rather close to him aren't they? Do you think Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-san write to one another? I mean Gai-sensei would tell us if he'd taken on another student."

Erisu's attention drifted as she recalled the exhilarating feeling of the kunai against her throat and the smell of funeral flowers on Kakashi's clothes. She wondered why he'd smelled of such melancholy flowers... Had someone died? Was that why he was late? And what was the real reason he'd departed so suddenly?

"What do you think, Erisu-chan?"

Erisu snapped her eyes to Tenten's, horrorstruck.

"She wasn't listening," Neji observed.

"I asked whether you think the Akatsuki will attack."

"Tis hard to say," Erisu replied, "Konoha is home to the Sannin and has many of the most powerful ninja clans but from what I know about the Akatsuki..." she trailed off uncertainly.

"What do you know about them?" Neji demanded in a tense voice.

"Well Uchiha Itachi is a member," she said, "he was a once in a generation shinobi who single handedly eradicated his entire clan, save Sasuke-san of course. I can only imagine how strong the other members are."

"Huh," Tenten was thoughtful, "you're about the same age as Itachi, right? Did you know him?"

"We were acquainted," she replied, "he was a year older than me so we knew each other, although I wouldn't go as far as to say we were friends..." She recalled the handsome and aloof boy from her past for the second time that day, "I was so shocked when I learned what he'd done. He was always so kind and gentle, a peacekeeper if ever there was one." Neji scoffed but Tenten was intrigued.

"Were you empathic back then?" She asked curiously and Erisu suspected her train of thought.

"Yes," she said quietly, "twas why it was so unnerving when the massacre was discovered. I never once sensed an inkling of violence in him in all the years I knew him. Either Itachi-senpai was able to completely conceal his intentions from me or something happened that night that was out of his control." Tenten's expression of befuddled interest was reflected on Neji's face now.

"Itachi was an Uchiha and one of the most gifted ninja Konoha has ever produced," Neji said piously, "he mastered the Sharingan when he was eight years old and entered the Anbu at the age of eleven, I'm pretty sure he could resist your 'empathic sense'." Tenten cast her teammate a reproachful look but Erisu nodded calmly.

"You're right," she said simply, "my point was only that I was fooled by him just like everyone else, even though I knew him relatively well."

"Did you talk to him much then?" Tenten seemed to be relishing in the gossip.

"We spoke on several occasions," Erisu allowed, "like I said, he was very collected and distant but when we did speak he talked mainly about shinobi, the origins of the village, and the future of the ninja world." She hesitated, "and Sasuke-san." Their interest peeked immediately upon hearing their former comrade's name.

"He talked to you about Sasuke-san?" Tenten repeated in an uneasy voice.

Erisu nodded, "I greatly admired Itachi-senpai, he was so impressive to watch and I would try to initiate conversation with him whenever the opportunity arose," she explained, "when I announced the birth of my younger brother Itachi-senpai was immensely happy for me and told me that he-" she hesitated, wondering if repeating Itachi's words would offend them, "-he said he loved his brother above all else in the world..." Silence blanketed them and Erisu averted her eyes, being careful to block out their emotions.

"That didn't stop him from murdering his entire clan and torturing his brother into unconsciousness," Neji pointed out harshly.

Tenten looked troubled, "that's really weird," she frowned at Erisu in disbelief, "were there really no warning signs?"

The older girl thought back to the times when she'd tailed the Uchiha in hopes of picking up some skills. "Well he was elusive and insightful," she told them, "preferring to remain on the sidelines observing others. A lot of people saw it as arrogance and antisocial behaviour but it didn't seem that way to me at the time. Looking back however, I guess it could have been something more sinister..."

As always at the mention of Itachi, Erisu became uncomfortable. She still couldn't comprehend his complete switch in personality. The Itachi she'd known couldn't have committed genocide and allied himself with a criminal organization... But had she really known him at all?

"You sure seem to think rather highly of a mass murderer," Neji muttered suspiciously, "do you commend his actions?" Erisu had heard this accusation from her mother on so many occasions that it didn't phase her in the slightest.

"Of course not," she answered, her voice steady, "tis still hard for me to believe, is all."

"Well maybe you shouldn't go around singing the praises of rogue ninja who betrayed their villages, "Neji suggested, his lip curling with contempt, "someone might get the wrong impression."

"Neji," Tenten glared at him fiercely, "she didn't mean anything by it, she was just being honest."

Neji scoffed scornfully and tossed his long dark hair, looking pointedly away.

"You're probably right though, Neji-san," Erisu conceded politely, "I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression."

He glowered at her and Erisu's senses prickled with an unsettling instinct that he resented her personally. She tried to determine what exactly she'd done to offend him so severely.

"Well," Tenten seemed eager to change the subject and Erisu got the impression that she was accustomed to defusing tension, "was today your first day of training?"

Erisu smiled gratefully, "yes, although we mostly just talked." She glimpsed Neji rolling his eyes.

"It was the same for us when we were first assigned under Gai-sensei," Tenten said wistfully, "he asked us about our hopes and dreams." She giggled, "and then challenged Kakashi-sensei."

"Challenged him?" Erisu leaned forward.

"They're long time rivals,"Tenten explained in amusement, "although I think it's more of a one sided rivalry, since Kakashi-sensei seems indifferent." Erisu was delighted by this piece of information. "They compete in all sorts of trivial things from foot races to eating contests," Tenten told her, "and this time it was Kakashi-sensei's turn to pick the competition and he chose rock, paper, scissors."

A Erisu laughed while Neji looked away in boredom.

"Gai-sensei declared that if he lost he'd have to do five hundred laps around the village on his hands," Tenten said more seriously.

Erisu was confused. "But that's impossible?"

"Gai-sensei believes nothing is impossible until you try it, it's part of his personal rules."

Erisu wondered if her statement about impossible things to Kakashi had had a deeper impact on him than he'd let on.

"And of course Gai-sensei lost," Neji interjected irritably, "then proceeded to humiliate himself showing off by trying to complete his ridiculous punishment."

"He wasn't doing it to impress the village," Erisu understood aloud, "he was simply staying true to his word no matter the risk to his body or reputation. He was proving his integrity to himself and maintaining his strength despite having lost to Kakashi-sensei," she smiled in respect, "he sounds like a very honest and noble person to me."

Tenten beamed in approval and Neji's pompous expression faded slightly. Erisu looked up at the lucky cat clock on the panelled wall and started to rise.

"I enjoyed speaking with you both," she said kindly, "but I must run some errands."

Tenten bowed in farewell, "maybe we could train together sometime," she suggested, Neji muttered goodbye reluctantly.

"I'd like that," Erisu said and was surprised that she meant it, "have a good day, Tenten-san, Neji-san." She dipped her head and departed quickly.

The sky was fading from blue to pink and a dark mass of cumulus clouds were forming on the horizon by the time Erisu finished her shopping. Back in her suite. She kicked off her sandals and stored her fresh vegetables and tofu in the tiny fridge. She changed into a sleeveless white nightdress that ruffled around her mid thighs, making sure her bandages hadn't come undone, and busied herself warming a hot pad in the microwave. Wrapping the soothing pad around her left thigh and swallowing a handful of pills, Erisu settled at her desk at last with a cup of tea.

She scoured the paper for apartment advertisements and employment options, nothing jumped out at her so she decided to study for a while instead. She read about the Sage of the Seven Paths for a while before her mind drifted away.

Kakashi was still vivid in her thoughts, the intelligence in his eye and the intriguing mystery of his obscured face. She traced the thin cut in the pale skin of her throat and her heartbeat quickened. The alluring sent of chrysanthemums drifted tantalizingly on the edge of her thoughts. She recalled the flicker in the hollow of his collarbone, his pulse visible beneath the form fitting fabric of his mask...

Erisu pressed the tip of a pencil to her lips as she stared blindly at the heavy tome before her.

*tap tap tap*

She jumped in alarm and detached a tānto from the underside of her desk, brandishing it before her. Kakashi was outside her window in the silver light of dusk.

She discreetly removed the hot pad from her leg, rushed to the window and pushed it open for him; he hopped over the sill and slipped off his sandals.

"Sorry about taking off earlier," he apologized, rubbing his head in embarrassment, "something came up that demanded my attention."

"Yes," she nodded, "your plants must've been parched."

He narrowed his eye in amusement and said, "I wanted to stop by to arrange what time we should meet tomorrow."

"Alright," her eyes darted to the door briefly, wondering why he'd chosen her window.

He seemed to know what she was thinking for he said: "I didn't feel like going through the receptionist, she kept talking about cabbage last time I visited you."

Erisu nodded uncertainly, suspecting lies, and gestured for him to sit, "would you like something to drink?"

"Oh no thank you," he replied still standing, "I won't be long. Could you meet me at the Third Training Ground at six tomorrow morning?"

She nodded, "certainly, senpai-sensei," she added, "by the way, do you know of any cheap apartments for rent in the area?"

Kakashi thought for a moment, "I think there were a couple of open bachelor suites in a building near the library," he said slowly, "I could get the address for you."

"Oh would you, please?" She was immensely grateful.

"No problem," he smiled, "oh and don't bother eating breakfast unless you want to throw up."

Erisu stared at him in dismay.

He stepped back into his sandals, cheerfully saluted her, then he leapt into the growing dark.

Erisu left her window open to listen to the calls of wildlife and whispers of nature as the village fell asleep. She resisted the urge to read and forced herself into bed early, determined to be well rested for her training in the morning. But try as she might, she couldn't fall asleep. Inside her head was a hurricane of untamed thoughts, Kakashi consuming her brain.

Erisu rolled onto her back and stared despairingly at the ceiling wondering what he had in store for her. Eventually she sank into troubled nightmares where a Sharingan leered down on her from the sky.


	6. Chapter 4: The Bell

**CHAPTER FOUR**

 ** _The Bell_**

~Erisu~

The sun had barely risen and the forest was tinted peach as the faint rays of dawn trickled through the leaves. Birds sang merrily in the treetops above and somewhere in the distance echoed the baritone howl of a ninken. Farmers tended their fields in their straw sugegasa, casting long mushroomlike shadows across their crops.

A murder of crows had settled on a scarecrow dressed like a shinobi, with a tattered vest made of woven grass and a tinfoil headband. The coal black birds jeered at each other in hoarse voices, bickering over the droning cries of cicadas.

The training ground was dappled in light, three straight shadows extending from the posts at the heart of the glade. Erisu gently deposited her rucksack beneath one of the weatherworn stumps and breathed in the cool morning air.

She had arrived fifteen minutes early to be safe and was still seeing snippets of her dreams.

She waited patiently as six o'clock came and went, watching the clouds forming kittens in the lightening sky.

At seven Erisu gave in to her trembling leg and lowered herself onto the dewy grass. The dawn chorus had subsided and the birds were now hopping through the undergrowth in search of their breakfast. Erisu listened to the rustling of the leaves and chittering of life all around, relaxed and content.

The shadows shortened as the sun hiked upwards and Erisu began to fall asleep. She let her eyelids sink over her silvery blue irises and enjoyed the tender kiss of the spring breeze. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly as she detected a presence and she opened her eyes slowly. A pale haired figure had appeared at the far end of the clearing, Erisu glanced at the watch strapped to her bag: 8:30. Was this going to become a regular habit of his?

"Good morning!" He called as he neared.

Erisu stood to greet him. "Good morning O-sama, is everything alright?"

"Hmm?" He blinked, "why wouldn't it be?"

"You said to meet you at six am."

"Did I say six?" He scratched his nose, "my bad."

She stared blankly at him in silence, while he shrugged out of his backpack and set it next to hers.

"Did you have breakfast?" He asked pleasantly.

"No."

"Good, that'll mean you're hungry."

Erisu frowned suspiciously, what was he up to?

He held up a tiny silver bell on a long string; it jingled sweetly. "Usually this is used as a test of teamwork but seeing as you're already a very selfless individual, and training alone, I'm going to use it to test your nerve instead," he said, authority had entered his voice now, "if you're unable to get this bell from me by noon you will not be aloud to eat and will be tied to the post to watch me have my lunch instead."

Erisu couldn't help but smile, bemused by his attempt at cruelty, but hunger wasn't something she worried about.

"You can use any means to steal the bell, for I'll use any means to prevent you from getting it. If you aren't ready to kill me you'll have no chance at beating me. Understand?"

She nodded.

"Good, begin."

Erisu shot immediately into the cover of the trees and vanished with a camouflage jutsu. She knew he had a heightened sense of smell and this jutsu would rob him of that advantage.

Kakashi stood at the centre of the clearing for a moment then pulled back his headband and opened his Sharingan. She scowled, getting past the copy wheel eye wouldn't be easy.

She decided to observe him from a distance for now and formulate a strategy. Erisu slunk soundlessly with the terrain, her body low and her feet flowing across the ground from toe to heel, always keeping her quarry in sight. Barely having to think about it, she concentrated her chakra to her palms and soles and scaled a massive tree in complete silence. Rhythmic movements in sync with the wind, she crawled out along a thick branch and perched, eyes unwavering, on the limb.

Kakashi surveyed the tree line, listening and smelling for her, his expression had altered into rigid seriousness. Then he dashed, with alarming speed, into the forest.

Erisu extended her senses and detected his caution; she moved out. She leapt through the branches, barely impacting them with precise footwork and a unity with her surroundings; she was part of the forest. Erisu followed the calculating feeling of determination from the bushes ahead and slowed to a slither.

Her leg spasmed suddenly, her blood like lava in her veins.

 _Not now...!_ Erisu thought furiously.

Then her leg went numb and she fell from the treetops, crashing to the forest floor in a heap. She bit her tongue to suppress a shriek of agony and dragged herself quickly under cover, swallowing blood. Her left leg had stopped working completely. Forcing herself to calm down, she soundlessly opened her medkit, popped several assorted pills then applied medical ninjutsu. Terrifyingly aware of the whispered whirring of her chakra she tried to heal her useless extremity as quickly as possible. Her arteries screamed in agony while her tissue fought the rejuvenating energy. Finally the pain decreased enough for her to regain control of her body and she stowed away her equipment.

She extended her mind and located her prey, he had relocated to the riverside. He was feeling confident.

Erisu stayed on the ground in case of another episode and followed game trails through the woodland.

She glimpsed Kakashi's forehead protector gleaming through the bracken. She widened her mind further, feeling for other emotions that would mean this one was a clone. Nothing, but she still had her reservations.

Erisu climbed lithely into the lowest branches of a gnarled oak and watched her sensei carefully. He was crouched behind a berry bush, his eyes scanning the branches above.

But Erisu was translucent, as long as she wasn't in motion when his eyes passed over her it was impossible to detect her by sight alone.

She breathed slowly and calmly through her nose, her quiet breath unheard over the rustling leaves and screeching birds.

Keeping him in her peripherals, she searched the area for signs of traps.

A trip wire that would trigger a falling log, a foot snare that would suspend her in midair, a mobile pressure plate that would launch a dozen rigged kunai ... he'd been busy. She looked closer still, there must be a reason why he'd stationed himself near the river... The glare on the water's surface from the steadily climbing sun prevented her from seeing into its depths. She was pretty sure he was a lightning style ninja but with his Sharingan he was almost certainly capable of using the other elements. She realized his Chidori combined with water style would be lethal.

She turned her full gaze back to Kakashi, double checking that he hadn't substituted himself, and scoped out the bell. It was hanging from his belt just above his left pocket.

He was terrifying in close range combat, she knew from the fight she'd first seen him engaged in, so how could she get close enough?

She leaned against the rough trunk to concoct a plan.

His reflexes were too good for a sneak attack and if it came down to a fight he would easily overpower her. She'd have to disable him somehow... Genjutsu? Would she have time to cast it before he disabled her; his left eye complicated everything. She could blind him with a smoke bomb but that would blind her too and he could substitute himself and escape. She wouldn't use Mental Nightmare on him, not ever. Erisu slipped around behind him while he scanned the opposite bank. Why was he just hiding here? His confidence disturbed her.

She was directly above him now and trying to calculate whether she'd be able to pin him before he heard her coming and although she was incredibly stealthy he was Hatake Kakashi after all. She couldn't risk it.

She caught him look longingly at his utility pouch where his book was hidden and smiled to herself. Could she use the book against him somehow? ... No, she wasn't familiar with the series and wasn't confident it meant enough to him.

Well... She thought suddenly, it wasn't like he was going to kill her if she made a mistake, perhaps she should take a risk and attack him. Wasn't this a test of nerve after all?

Erisu felt him again to make absolute certain it was the real Kakashi and soundlessly dropped from the branch, timing it with a gust of wind. She guided her fall and landed directly on his shoulders, feeling his firm muscles under her feet momentarily.

Kakashi dove into a roll and Erisu was forced to leap backwards; he faced her. She saw his pupil dilate in the red pinwheel patterned eye. He was now able to foresee her every move and replicate it flawlessly, but she could also see him and his soul.

Before she'd realized it, the Himitsugan had formed completely and her eyes had turned pastel pink, her pupils mere pinpricks, whites red with blood as her arteries burst from the pressure. Their gazes locked, their Dōjutsu connected. Then, in less than a second's time, she could feel him completely and knew his hopes and fears...

 _He was so alone and full of regret. Why had he been the only one to survive? Orange goggles, a medicine kit, a flash of yellow through the trees. Sharingan, red and murderous..._

 _Screaming in his ears as the rocks fell. The guilt and the gift... He promised._

 _Sharingan, glistening with tears..._

 _Blinding blue light exploding from his small, childish hand, the blood hot as it soaked through his clothes and the whispered words..._

 _"Kakashi-kun..."_

 _Sharingan, morphing into the advanced Mangekū of incomparable loss..._

 _Depression equal to her own, drowning in fear. They were watching him and suspected him._

 _Nightmares-it was all his fault..._

Erisu broke the jutsu off by pressing her palms into her eyes, the heat of Himitsugan cooling back to blue. Reddened tears blurring the ninja before her, she staggered under the weight of his emotions. She backed away apologetically, she hadn't meant to invade... Kakashi straightened, his face concerned.

Erisu was trembling, his pain was too powerful, misery too great. Her vision pixilated and her mind fogged. She didn't realize her leg was giving out... Her head cracked against the rocky riverbank and the jolt of impact cleared her mind. Erisu jumped back to her feet, ears roaring, and wobbled on her lame leg, blinking away the blood. Only two heartbeats had passed. Kakashi was approaching, looking disturbed but she couldn't give up yet. Erisu launched herself back into the trees and camouflaged herself, head still swimming.

Keeping her bleary eyes fixed on her befuddled sensei, Erisu honed in on the feelings of the birds above her. They were weightless on the wind, free and untouchable. She was flying far above the worries of the shinobi world, calm. The ringing and roaring subsided and she re-evaluated her circumstances.

 **Prove her nerve and get the bell.**

Kakashi turned in a slow circle, his brow creased with worry as he searched for her. Erisu gritted her teeth, he couldn't be feeling sorry for his opponent! She flung a shuriken half heartedly at his head, he sidestepped and it punctured a nearby tree. He looked directly at her without seeing her. His eyes drifted warily over the canopy and she leapt away while his head was turned. She had to herd him away from the riverside. She didn't know exactly what he was plotting but his confidence told her to remove him from this place. She dipped out of sight, conjured a clone, vanished again, moved around him a couple yards and conjured another. A semicircle of four Erisus hid in the forest, ready to push Kakashi away from the water. She melted into the background and her clones flew through the trees as one.

Kakashi, on the defensive, was forced to backpedal as he deflected the attacks. The girls burst into smoke one after the other until only the original Erisu was left, still invisible above.

His confidence wavered and she detected a sliver of approval before he became thoughtful and determined again. Seeing how easily he'd defeated her clones intensified her belief that she didn't stand a chance if she got too close. But again, that was the only way to retrieve the bell.

Erisu swallowed a food pill and narrowed her eyes. She would have to deceive him somehow... But what could possibly work on a ninja this intelligent and talented? The food pill's effects were instantaneous and her already ample chakra supply doubled, her pain was replaced with adrenaline and her nonexistent stamina was now at least equal to Kakashi's. She had to just go for it, but this time she couldn't look him in the eye-for both their sakes.

Kakashi was crouching in a small flowery clearing below, his eyes burning with suspicion as they seared the woods around him. She knew he wanted her to attack him so Erisu dove. She released her camouflage as she landed, materializing in a cluster of lavender. Kakashi's Sharingan fixed on her, but her eyes stayed on his feet, monitoring him like a busy street while reading.

She sunk into a deep, feline crouch; she did have nerve.

Erisu pounced, flying over Kakashi's head and aiming a chakra spiked palm to his spine but he was already facing her and deflected her with his forearm. Her chakra grazed his wrist and approval gleamed in his eyes. Erisu flipped backwards into her hands and sprung back to her feet, forcing her eyes from his before his emotions could reach her. Kakashi beared down on her, his fists a blur, she blocked him with increasing desperation as his speed accelerated alarmingly. She broke free and rolled between his legs, her fingers just missing the bell; it tinkling luringly. Her right foot soared in a perfect roundhouse before he could turn-her leg flared hot with excruciating pain-she missed.

Kakashi was behind her now, his body touching hers ever so slightly, he clamped an iron grip on her right arm and twisted it against her back. The cold tip of a blade rested at the base of her skull. She'd failed.

Her heart was racing from more than exertion now as she became absorbed by the feel of his torso against her back. He was so close she could feel his taught muscles as he held her fast, aiming a lethal blow. Something about the fact that he could have killed her made her lips curl into a smile.

"Don't let me get behind you, Erisu," he scolded in her ear.

Adrenaline raced through her, making her reckless. His breath ruffled her hair. "Hmm, you never know..." Erisu turned her head and their cheeks brushed. She looked him square in the eye, her mouth skimming his jaw and whispered before she could stop herself, "maybe I want you behind me."

Kakashi's grip loosened in surprise as she caressed his hip and slipped from his grasp. He stared at her in confusion and she held up the bell triumphantly with a giggle of euphoria.

Kakashi relaxed, and chuckled, hand in his hair. "You got me," he said in satisfaction, "you've got nerve."

"Does that mean I get to tie you to the post?" She asked, folding her hands behind her back and balancing on her heels.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and tugged his headband back down. Erisu noticed the pale skin of his cheekbone was slightly flushed as he turned away from her and headed back towards the posts. She watched him stroll across the meadow for a moment before following.

"You've impressed me, Hakuchō Erisu," Kakashi told her as they sat together eating lunch in the grass, "with some practice and a lot of determination, I might have you trained up in time for the next chūnin exams."

Erisu stopped with an inarizushi half way to her mouth; she lowered her chopsticks. "You think I'm ready?"

"Not yet," he answered. His food seemed to be mysteriously disappearing while she wasn't looking. He added, "there's still the hurdle of assigning you to a team, but that shouldn't be too hard. If you have the passion and dedication to continue training, you can make it. I think you definitely have the potential to make chūnin by next year."

"Truly?" She was invigorated by his praise.

He eyed her thoughtfully and stirred his miso rather than replying. She dropped her gaze and prodded her salad introspectively. She'd heard of the ferocity of the exams and after the chaos she'd witnessed during the Konoha Crush she found herself daunted by the prospect of actually partaking in them.

"Erisu," Kakashi held her with a steely stare, "are you prepared for the intensity of my tutelage? I won't go easy on you, believe me."

She hesitated, the severity of his expression unsettled her but she couldn't give up now...

"You can remain a genin and perform C ranked missions with little risk to yourself," he went on, "the vast majority of genin who enter the exams fail, even those who win the third round competitions aren't guaranteed a promotion."

"I understand that," she told him quietly, "but the kinds of missions I'd be assigned at this level aren't of great enough significance to the village," then added earnestly, "I need to help Konohagakure!"

"But you can always take the exam in a few years, once you're more prepared," his voice was calm, his eyelid lowered, but she knew he was analyzing her carefully, "what's the rush?"

Erisu carefully set her face so as to not reveal her internal motivation and replied, "I'm already so far behind my peers and have lost so many years that I could've spent more productively. I don't want to waste any more time."

"You mentioned yesterday that you'd defended villagers from bandits," he said unexpectedly, "it sounds like you were aiding people, unless you mean to say you were a mercenary only interested in the profits?"

Erisu paused, caught off guard. "I didn't charge them.." She murmured.

"Hm?"

"I'd defended the villagers in exchange for food and board," she repeated clearly, "it hadn't even occurred to me to request payment for protection."

"That's what I thought," Kakashi's tone was warm, "my impression is that you're very altruistic and kind. Positive traits in a person. As for their positivity in a Kunoichi-"

"As an empath I fully understand the problems that result from getting to emotional on a mission," she said over him hastily, "'a ninja must always put the mission first' and 'a ninja must never show weakness'. I won't let my compassion endanger the directive-"

"No," he interrupted, startling her, "there's more to being a ninja than rules and regulations." She looked up at him curiously. "Your selfless charity will make you an amazing Kunoichi. I can tell that you would do anything to defend those you love, and also that you unconditionally love everyone in the village. That'll only add fuel to your ferocity in its defence. Don't ever lose that trait."

Erisu stared incredulously at this prestigious shinobi and saw him looking upon her with equal respect. His recognition was all the acclaim she'd ever need.

"I'm ready for my training to intensify." She told him firmly and saw a spark of intrigue in the dark depths of his gaze.

"Very well," she could've sworn he was smiling behind his mask, "we start at dawn."


	7. Chapter 5: Sacrifice

**火**

* * *

 **CHAPTER SIX**

 _ **Sacrifice**_

* * *

 **~Erisu~**

* * *

Slinking into her dark hotel room, Erisu kicked off her tactical boots and proceeded towards her bed without bothering to turn on the light. She collapsed, face down, on her comforter and breathed deeply. She'd succeeded in her task, proving her guts to her sensei and retrieving the bell but she was rigid and anxious as she lay in the gloom.  
She hadn't the faintest clue what'd caused her to flirt with Kakashi... He was out of her league, and far more significant was the resolute fact that he wasn't her type. That is ... she sat up and gazed agitatedly at a photograph of a teenaged girl with short boyish hair that was a violent shade of red and saffron coloured eyes ... He wasn't a woman.  
Erisu's only romantic interest had been her beloved female friend, Sora Miwa. She hadn't felt an inkling of attraction to anyone before or since, and therefore was completely dumbfounded by her sudden flirtatious cheek towards her male tutor.  
 _Bizarre_ , she thought as she shook her head in wonder, _I must really be losing my mind_. But she quickly convinced herself that she'd obviously been caught up in the adrenaline of the moment, nothing more.  
Erisu remembered the importance of eating and supped on a meagre meal of agedashi tofu and rice while gazing out the wide window. She supposed she was getting such a cheap deal on this room because of its less than cheerful view of the sprawling shinobi cemetery. Erisu, however, found the scenery particularly relaxing and appreciated the quiet of the inn's location.

Without warning, her leg spasmed accusingly and she was forced to appease it. She rose with a bitter sigh and untied her obi. Her fingers trembled momentarily on the clasp that fastened the tensor to her leg. Inhaling deeply to brace herself, Erisu unwound the bandages and slipped off her reinforced tights. Instantly her veins fired up with indescribable pain and Erisu stifled a sob. She glared at her pathetic limb with utmost loathing. Her skin was a horrid shade of grey, mottled with livid bruises, and laced with spidery, indigo veins. Her toenails were blackened and her muscles were taut and starved of oxygen. She ran her finger over her thigh and traced The Mark:  
 **犠牲** , _sacrifice_.  
The characters were bold and black as if they'd been painted on her skin but were more permanent than a tattoo. The inky spiral design that encircled the symbols was faded and useless. It was obvious that the sealing had failed but Erisu hardly cared. The pain was something she'd grown so accustomed to that most of the time she was oblivious of it and the nausea and nonexistent appetite from the regular waves of agony was nothing she couldn't handle. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't despair, she would persevere.  
Erisu hadn't a care to spare in regards to the Curse itself, her only concern was making herself useful ... before the inevitable end.

Moving stiffly, Erisu put on a kettle and opened her medical stores to prepare her evening poultice. She ground the herbs into a fine powder and combined the complicated variety of ingredients into her original numbing salve. After applying it liberally to the deadened leg, Erisu re-bandaged herself and wrapped her thigh in a hot pad. She choked back some foul medicinal syrup and a handful of homemade pills before returning to her bed with some tea and chocolate. Despite knowing her training started at dawn, she couldn't resist a little bit of bedtime reading so she found her marked page and resumed her leisurely read of theoretical physics.

She looked up as Aiko slipped in through the window, a large torch bug buzzing in her jaws. It's luminescent thorax made her round eyes glow like moons. Tail curled in delight, Aiko dropped her catch and hurried over to Erisu, purring. The glowing bug's wings vibrated pitifully as it tried to fly despite being rather disfigured by the cat's fangs.  
Erisu cooed at Aiko in greeting and the dainty she-cat hopped onto the bed where she suckled and kneaded the blankets like an overgrown kitten. As she lowered her eyes back to her book, stroking her furry companion absently, Erisu found herself actually looking forward to the morning when she'd see her sensei again.

* * *

 **~Kakashi~**

* * *

"Sensei!" Sakura emerged from a shop, groceries in her arms, and fell into step alongside Kakashi. "Where are you off to?"  
"The library," he answered breezily, "something I wanted to check."  
"Oh? What's that?" Sakura's minty green eyes looked up at him, intrigued. "Have you made any progress dismantling the Akatsuki?"  
He glanced sidelong at her and swallowed a sigh. He hated it when she asked him about that criminal organization since he hated to disappoint or worry her. He couldn't manage an honest reply.  
 _The Akatsuki_ , he thought darkly, _they'll be making their move anytime now_...  
Their silence since Itachi and Kisame's brief appearance two years ago was perplexing and concerning. He was absolutely certain that the threat wasn't over. He knew they were just biding their time, plotting and planning. Once Naruto was back they would undoubtedly resurface to pursue the Kyūbi...  
"Sensei?" Sakura's voice broke into his thoughts. "Your eyes are really intense, are you okay?"  
"Of course, Sakura," he lied pleasantly. "What are you up to anyways? It's getting a bit late for shopping isn't it?"  
Fooled by his facade she smiled, her pastel pink hair rippling in the evening breeze. "My mom wanted me to grab a couple things for breakfast is all," she replied, "and I wanted to pick up a couple ingredients."  
"Ingredients?" He queried.  
"I've been working on a recipe for food pills," she explained happily. "I'm hoping they'll be ready by the time Naruto gets back."  
"How thoughtful."  
"Do you know exactly when he'll be back, sensei?" He detected an undertone of concern in her voice.  
"Soon, I imagine," he answered as they skirted a group of rowdy men outside a pub. "Within a couple weeks."  
The sun was setting below the trees, casting a bloody hue across the sky. The street lamps were flickering on now and squares of light gleamed across the road from the windows above.  
"Any news about," her voice quavered slightly but when she continued it was quite steady, "about Sasuke-kun..?"  
His expression softened as he looked down at his former student sympathetically. "No," he told her quietly.  
"Ah, okay," Sakura paused and plastered a smile on her pretty face, a very convincing expression of happiness. "Well, I'll see you around, Kakashi-sensei!" She waved and turned towards her door.  
"Goodnight, Sakura," he called as he continued down the street into the gathering night.

* * *

Kakashi paused outside a mediocre apartment building across from the library and consciously memorized the address before continuing on. Ahead, a trio of preteens ducked conspicuously into an alley, a flash of blue fabric flickered around the corner as a scarfed boy dipped out of sight. Konohamaru and his friends causing mischief. He yawned and pulled up his mask more firmly before following the familiar route to the cemetery. It was peculiar how the village could carry on it's routines when danger was prowling just around the corner.

The smooth stretch of manicured grass was nearly black in the dark of night when Kakashi reached the perimeter. He paused on the edge of the lot, staring ahead at the pearly rows of bevel markers that glowed slightly in the moonlight. How many times over the years had he always wound up here? How many hours had he spent alone amongst the graves?  
Movement drew his attention to a second story window, still lit while all the others had gone out. Sitting on the windowsill in a floaty white nightgown was Erisu. She was oblivious of him standing below in the shadows, her eyes fixed on a book that was propped on her bandaged knees. He wondered what she was doing up so late when they had training in the morning but only to remind himself that he was awake as well. She turned her gaze to the cemetery, brows knitted thoughtfully, then shook her head and resumed reading.  
Had she sensed his presence?  
There was something endearing about her relaxed posture, curled like a cat with a pencil tucked behind her ear, that made him smile to himself. He'd planned on giving her the address of the potential apartment during training but, seeing as she was there and still awake, why not do it now?  
He made towards the inn, fully intending to climb the wall and tap on her window, when he stopped abruptly and looked back at the graveyard. For a moment he'd completely forgotten to visit Rin. After an interlude of silent deliberation, Kakashi swept back into the maze of graves without a backwards glance.

* * *

 **火**

* * *

During training the following morning Erisu was more polite than usual, which was saying something indeed, and Kakashi suspected that she was embarrassed by what she'd said the previous day. Regardless of her distant, curt demeanour, Erisu impressed him yet again throughout their training. Focussing on taijutsu, he pushed herself mercilessly to improve her combat capabilities. Although she was rather weak and occasionally clumsy, she was an astoundingly fast learner and thrived under the pressure. Her eyes would sparkle with determination from every critiquing word as if she fed on his criticism. They sparred for several hours straight before Kakashi let her take a break.

"You're improving quickly," he told her as she took a deep swig from her canteen, "but I don't think offensive combat suits you very well." He thought for a moment, scrutinizing her tiny build. "How flexible are you?"  
"Relatively," she answered warily.  
"Care to demonstrate?" He needed to know exactly what her strengths and weaknesses were if he was to properly train her.  
Her eyes narrowed slightly but she didn't argue. It was clear she didn't like the spotlight. Erisu rolled her shoulders and flipped into a perfect back handspring, landing nimbly on her feet. She hesitated then cartwheeled into a graceful, leaping front split, landed in a roll and came to a rest in a side split. Her spine was seemingly elastic as she moved with astonishing finesse. Expression slightly disgruntled, she raised her right leg independently and hooked her ankle behind her head with obvious ease.  
He nodded professionally, privately impressed and the tiniest embarrassed, and she got back to her feet plucking flower petals from her untameable hair.

"By the stars! It's already noon!" Erisu said suddenly, looking over at the fob watch chained to her rucksack. Then her brow furrowed from some unseeable offence and she indiscernibly scolded herself under her breath like a muttering madman.  
"What's up?" Kakashi was glad his mask hid his smirk of amusement. She really did seem like a crazy sage trapped in a young girl's body.  
"Oh, I just forgot to pack a lunch is all." She shrugged. "Did you want to stop to eat, sir?"  
"I did actually." A sudden idea occurred and he chose on a whim to go with it. "Let's head into the village for a bite."  
She gaped at him incredulously, caught off guard, but quickly composed herself and dipped her head submissively.  
"As you wish, sensei."

The walk across the training ground to the forest path was quiet and uneventful. Kakashi had an unexplainable desire to look away from Erisu whenever she made eye contact.  
"Senpai-er-sensei," she began tentatively after a few moments of awkward silence, "what are the requirements for one to be promoted to Anbu? 'Tis only that all documents about them are rather vague."  
"Well it's not really a matter of requirements per say," he began, eyeing her thoughtfully. "Age, background, gender, or previous rank are irrelevant in a shinobi's appointment to Anbu. They're hand picked by their Kage because of individual skills or specializations."  
"I see," her eyes were distant with introspective  
thoughts, "A.N.B.U... As in: _Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai_? So then are they all assassins?"  
"They're a covert assassination and tactical squad that answer directly to the Kage," he clarified, eyes fixed on her with burning curiosity. He'd pegged her for either hospice due to her kindness and medical prowess or the Torture and Interrogation Force because of her empathic edge, but her ambitions seemed to be elsewhere.  
"And they're anonymous?" She looked up, anonymity seemed to be something worthy of reverence in her mind. "They needn't ever be exposed?"  
"The Hokage has the members documented but their identities are classified, yes." He was aware how easy she was to talk to, despite her age she was intellectually his peer. "Even if an Anbu member is to leave the regiment they can be assured that what they did in their past career remains secret."  
"How marvellous," she said serenely, her misty eyes unfocused as she gazed unseeing ahead. "Then the special requirements and skills that might catch the Hokage's attention... Might I have some examples?"  
He opened his mouth to describe wood jutsu, when he caught scent of a familiar musk.  
"Yo, Gai." He waved over his shoulder without turning and heard, to his great satisfaction, his rival curse under his breath.  
Gai emerged from the woodwork looking mutinous when his large, dark eyes fell on Erisu. His expression morphed into a massive, sparkling grin.  
"Well Hello there!" He greeted her enthusiastically making her leap out of her skin. "I'm Maito Gai, who might you be?"

Erisu gaped at Kakashi, too confused too speak.

"That's Erisu," Kakashe told Gai wearily. "She healed me in the forest the other day, remember?"

Gai had a reputation for being terrible with faces.

"Of course!" He exclaimed. "Erisu-can! How are you?"  
"I-I'm fine, Gai-sama-er-sensei," she stammered nervously as Gai, surprisingly, wrapped her in a bone rushing embrace. She looked as though she wanted nothing more than to spontaneously vanish. Gai seemed to have decided her discovery and treatment of Kakashi in the woods warranted his friendship and affection.  
"Where are you two heading?" He asked as the three continued down the forest path to the village.  
"We're just getting some lunch," Kakashi replied dismissively and immediately wished he hadn't for Gai's face cracked into an evocative grin.  
"Are you really?" He asked excitedly, "just the two of you? _Alooooone_..?"  
Kakashi cast him a withering look but Erisu seemed oblivious to what Gai was suggesting. She had noticed a rather large butterfly and had began to drift off the path towards it. Kakashi caught her elbow and guided her back on course.  
"What are you doing, Gai?" Kakashi asked in hopes of diverting to subject.  
"I just finished doing thirty laps around the village..." He paused for dramatic effect. "...on my-"  
"Hands?" Kakashi finished for him dryly. Gai scowled as if he'd just been denied dessert. "And what are the rest of your team up to?"  
"Tenten's at the shop, Neji is training with his uncle, and Lee is trying to win Sakura-chan's heart!" He added the last part with obvious pride.  
"Haruno-san and Lee-san are acquainted then?" Erisu asked unexpectedly.  
"Oh yes," Gai told her sagely, "they've been very close since the Chūnin exams a few years back when Lee confessed his undying love to her and then saved her life."

Kakashi thought Erisu glanced at him as though she wanted to say something more on the subject but she simply nodded and returned to gazing up at the sky as she walked.  
They'd reached the village now, Gai maintaining a continual stream of jovial, one sided conversation along the way, and Kakashi found himself hoping his friend would depart soon.  
"So Erisu," Kakashi began, during an pause in Gai's zealous dialogue, "what are you in the mood for? Ramen, udon, barbecue?"  
Erisu hesitated, again as if she'd been about to say something, but blinked heavily and said instead, "whatever you'd like, O-sama."

Gai smiled approvingly at Erisu's respectful response. "That's right, Erisu-chan! Courtesy never goes out of style!"  
Realizing Gai wasn't going to take the hints of his meaningful glances Kakashi decided to be blunt. "It was nice seeing you, Gai-kun," he said calmly, "see you around."  
Gai was affronted by this dismissal but at that moment Kakashi didn't really mind.  
"Have a lovely day, O-sama," Erisu said sweetly, bowing to the taijutsu master. "'Twas a pleasure chatting with you, sir."  
"Oh Erisu!" Gai laughed good-naturedly. "You don't need to be so formal! You can call me Gai-sensei. Or maybe you'd prefer Konoha's Green Beast?"  
Erisu's expression betrayed that that was way out of her comfort zone but Gai seemed to miss this as he struck his "nice guy" pose, giving her the thumbs up and flashing his white teeth.  
"Enjoy your lunch, Kakashi-kun," Gai added in an undertone, clapping his friend on the back. Then he strode away.  
Kakashi's lips twitched in an unintentional smile and he lead the way into the village.  
"What's your favourite food?" Kakashi asked Erisu after a moment. "Besides onions of course," he added slyly.  
She narrowed her eyes in amusement. "Makizushi. Although I'm not particularly picky," then added rather quickly, "just not barbecue if you don't mind."  
Not bothering to ask why she disliked barbecue, Kakashi simply nodded in acknowledgement and the two headed up Main Street together. After a short bout of quiet conversation, Kakashi became aware that they were again being tailed. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Sakura quickly ducking into a doorway out of sight. Sighing with exasperation he continued on, pointedly ignoring her curious gaze following them down the street. He didn't understand why she and Gai were making such a deal out of him treating Erisu to lunch, he'd taken Sasuke out regularly while training him for the Chūnin exams after all. It was perfectly normal for a sensei to get his student a meal during gruelling training sessions.

* * *

As they ate through an assortment of rolls, cones, and nigiri, Kakashi and Erisu engaged in deep conversation. Not only was she well educated in a variety of intriguing topics but she had no qualms in him reading a page or two of _Make-Out-Violence_ while they waited for their food. They discussed novel genres, literature, shinobi history, politics, and the looming threat of the Akatsuki that had now seeped into the minds of shinobi across the nation.

"...what concerns me is the subtle division that's been becoming more apparent between Tsunade-sama and the Elders," Erisu said between bites of oshinko roll. "Unity is required now, not only in the village itself but in all the countries. I have the feeling that the Akatsuki threaten the entire shinobi world not just Konohagakure."  
"I agree," Kakashi said quietly, lowering his chopsticks and examining her in fascination. "A rift in the village now is the last thing we need." He wondered if Erisu knew just how accurate her suspicions were. Although he found himself unnerved by her knowledge of Tsunade's interactions with the Council despite having apparently not been back to Konoha since Hiruzen's death.  
"Precisely." She nodded fervently. "I know from the documentations of the Sannin during the Second World War that her ladyship is rather..." She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "...opinionated and..."  
"Obdurate?" He suggested, knowing she was avoiding the word stubborn.  
"Yes, rather. Thanks." She smiled coyly. "And that she's unlikely to cave under the Go-Ikenban's pressure but I'm concerned they may not be content to tolerate her style of leadership for long. Whilst I, personally, endorse the changes she's made as Hokage I doubt all are as happy with her approach to leadership."  
Kakashi regarded her carefully. "You're very up to date on Konoha's politics for someone who's been away for the last two years."  
Erisu nodded. "I tried to stay informed during my years of meditation despite my seclusion. Mind you, it was a challenge to sift the real news from the gossip and rumours."  
"Meditation?" She was growing more and more interesting. Where that morning her couldn't hold eye contact, now he couldn't look away.  
"I spent some time at the Fire Temple," she explained. "I quite admire the lifestyle of the shinobi monks and found solace in their company. If it wasn't for their exclusion of women in the order I might've become a monk instead of returning to Konoha."  
"Is that so." He frowned, analysing everything.  
"I'm most curious as to what the Akatsuki are after." Her eyes flicked up at him from under her lashes, regarding him with equal interest. "There's a rumour that Itachi-senpai expressed interest in Uzamaki-san."  
She didn't miss anything. He considered her for a moment over their meal, and debated whether or not to discuss Naruto with her.  
"You don't think, do you," she lowered her voice casually so as to not be overheard, "that their target is the Kyūbi..?"  
He was impressed in spite of himself. While the older shinobi knew of the nine tailed fox sealed inside his former student, most of the kids didn't- _but that's right_ , he reminded himself, _she's older than she looks_. It also occurred to him that he didn't know much about her parentage, maybe her mother or father had been one of the elite ninja who knew about the secret of the Nine-Tails.  
"There's evidence to support that theory," he replied evasively. "The complete size of the organization and its eventual goal are still unknown though."  
"Is it true, sensei, that Kisame-sama of the Mist is a member? It's only that there was a rumour going around that he'd been sighted in the outlaying villages wearing a black cloak with red clouds..."  
He eyed her guardedly, the fleeting suspicion that she might be a spy crossed his thoughts. Tsunade had cleared her records, but then Kabuto had been cleared as well.  
"Yes," he answered simply, "Itachi and Kisame are both confirmed members."  
Erisu's eyes again expressed that there was something she wanted to say or ask but she simply ate some ginger and picked up a cucumber roll. She lowered her chopsticks and set her face determinedly.  
"Are they going to attack?" She asked in a rush, "'tis only that I'd heard that Uzamaki-san and Jiraiya-sama are expected back soon and with their target back in the village..."  
Kakashi set down his chopsticks as well and steepled his fingers thoughtfully. How much could he safely divulge to her?  
"We should all be on guard and prepared for an attack," he said at last. "When they'll strike is uncertain since they've been practically silent for nearly three years now, but we know that they are interested in Naruto and the nine tails he possesses."  
Erisu was quiet for a while as she considered all of this. Then her silvery blue eyes found his and her brows raised curiously.  
"Is it true that Uzamaki-san can perform the _Kage Bunshin No Jutsu_?"  
"That's right," Kakashi answered in a mellow tone. Then he thought about Erisu's expansive chakra and her perfect clones she'd demonstrated during the bell test. "If fact, I could teach you the technique if you're interested."  
Erisu's eyes lit up excitedly. "Oh please!"

* * *

 **火**


	8. Chapter 6: Flames of Friendship

**火**

* * *

 **CHAPTER SEVEN**

 _ **Flames of Friendship**_

* * *

 **~Erisu~**

* * *

Erisu found herself yet again nestled the windowsill staring out at Konoha as the sun rose. The pink wisps of stratus clouds were like feathery streaks of paint on a periwinkle canvas. Sunlight kissed the rooftops as the rays peaked over the horizon.  
Despite her triumph in finally obtaining a shinobi rank (albeit the lowest of said ranks), regardless of her accomplishments in training, and in spite of her newfound companionship with Kakashi, Erisu was still unsatisfied. She'd never cared for fame or profits, wasn't bothered with superficial desires that seemed to consume most girls her age, but now she felt a painful longing...  
No matter what happiness the recent changes had brought, something dark and hollow was growing in her chest, soaking up her optimism and hope as its roots burrowed deeper within her. Some parasitic emptiness had seeded in her heart like a glacier after her conversation with Kakashi three days prior...  
She was indisputably alone.  
But why? She was estranged from her family and forgotten by those she'd once called friend. This recently understood fact was disarming and utterly bewildering to her.  
As a child she'd been a social butterfly, fluttering about with a variety of friends and acquaintances. Now Miwa was dead and Itachi was gone, but hadn't there been others once upon a time? What'd happened after she'd left?

* * *

 **火**

* * *

The hot springs were deserted as Erisu slipped in for an early morning bath to clear her head. She breathed in the steam and lowered herself into the hot water with a sigh. Submerging herself, she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the safety of the darkness and silence.  
What had happened to all the youth she'd played with as a child? Had they become shinobi? Was it possible to just start up where one had left off? If she appeared on the threshold of an old friend's door would she be denied?  
She broke the surface and flipped her wet hair from her face.  
 _It's not healthy to brood like this_ , she scolded herself silently, _with everything else going on is loneliness really a valid concern_?  
The door slid open and a woman entered, unaware of Erisu's presence. She was heart-stoppingly beautiful with glossy black hair that hung to her knees and long tanned legs. Her sly, slanted eyes were a deep burgundy and her lips were blood red. Erisu stared at the tall, athletic woman and felt tiny and childish by comparison.  
Steam condensed into beads on the woman's olive skin as she shed her towel and stepped into the spring.  
Reclining against a large stone the newcomer sighed wearily, then caught sight of Erisu and flushed.  
"I didn't realize anyone was in here," she murmured in embarrassment. "It's usually empty this early."  
"I'm sorry," Erisu ran her fingers through her short hair self consciously.  
"No need to apologize!" The beauty laughed. "I'm Kiyomi, what's your name?"  
"Erisu," the younger girl answered timidly. "'Tis a pleasure."  
"Yeah." Kiyomi swam over to Erisu's side, tilted her head back to wet her hair then she looked over at Erisu and smirked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
Regaining her senses, Erisu smiled apologetically. "Sorry, just lost in thought."  
"I hear you." Kiyomi nodded wisely. "The hot springs are a great place to unwind. Do you wanna to talk about it?"  
"Um.." Erisu's eyes darted anxiously and Kiyomi's full red lips curled in amusement.  
"No need to be shy, venting is healthy. So are kale smoothies and punching people in the face." She arched her back and yawned drowsily. "Mind if I complain to you?"  
"Lay it on me." Erisu smiled.  
"I was just assigned to a team with two of my old classmates, a chūnin and jōnin. And although I myself am jōnin and arguably more experienced than my colleague, he was made captain rather than me. Now since the Hokage is a woman I would've thought that sexism wouldn't rear it's ugly head but I can't help but suspect that's the reason I was passed over." She crossed her arms over her ample bosom and scowled. "Or maybe it's because he's a high and mighty Hyūga. Damn snobs."  
Erisu thought for a moment. "You're the same age and rank but he was still made captain? That is odd. I'd have thought you'd each command your own team rather than putting two equally skilled shinobi at odds."  
Kiyomi was relieved. "Exactly! I should be leading my own team by now! I'm twenty five, I'm not getting any younger!"  
"Have you filed a complaint?"  
"Hell no." She tossed her black hair over her shoulder. "I didn't want to give him the satisfaction."  
"Who?"  
"My 'captain'." She scoffed. "Pretentious aristocrat. He'd be delighted to learn I was upset, revenge for dumping him back at the academy."  
"Ahhh..." Erisu grinned. "The plot thickens!"  
Kiyomi laughed aloud. "I was only dating the fool to maintain the façade of being feminine." She glanced sidelong at Erisu. "But being a typical spoiled rich boy, he took it very personally. He made up plenty of rumours to make _me_ seem like the undesirable one."  
"Ech." Erisu knitted her brows sympathetically.  
"Oh he's the one you should feel sorry for, darling." She narrowed her eyes, dark brows arched maliciously. "Once he sees me in action on the battlefield he'll be too afraid to even give me a sideways look."  
Erisu laughed, the other woman's glee was contagious.  
"So there's my troubles, now what's eating you?"  
"Oh I don't know..." Erisu rubbed her neck and sighed. "I'm just having difficulties adapting to my new life."  
"Did you move here recently or something?"  
"Yes and no." Erisu relaxed against the warm rocks and turned over to gaze at Kiyomi's gorgeous face. "I lived in Konoha as a small child intermittently and then left for several years. I recently returned and am now under the tutelage of a shinobi I've always admired."  
"That sounds like living the dream but I suspect it's not as simple as it seems." Kiyomi tilted her head. "Is your hero not everything you thought they'd be?"  
"That's just it: he's everything and more. But he reminded me of how alone I am..." she paused, uncertain how to explain. "When I was last here I didn't say goodbye to my childhood friends and now I find myself without anyone."  
"You haven't tried to contact them?"  
Erisu chuckled humourlessly. "What would I say?"  
"You could always start with 'hi'."  
It was a simple answer but that very simplicity made it feel as though it wasn't as hard as Erisu was making it out to be.  
"You were friends once, right?" Kiyomi continued, "I see no reason why you can't be again."  
"I think you may be on to something." Erisu looked up at her with a warm smile. "Thank you, Kiyomi-san."  
The beautiful Kunoichi beamed in response then asked, "who is this admirable childhood hero of yours? If you don't mind my asking."  
Erisu lowered her eyes to the swirling hot water, hiding her smile. "Hatake Kakashi."  
"Oh, Kakashi-senpai." Kiyomi nodded knowingly. "He's everyone's hero, isn't he?" They giggled and Erisu felt some of her restless despair fade.  
"So," Erisu began after a moment, "you're a jōnin? What do you specialize in?"  
"Close quarters ass kicking!" Kiyomi boxed the air and grinned, revealing pearly white teeth. "I duel wield kodachis," she explained. "My father was a samurai and my mother was a member of Konoha's Anbu, lovers from different worlds. They married and raised me to be a ninja with samurai principles and a great respect for swords."  
"Wow." Erisu was impressed. "That's amazing, I'd like to see you in action."  
"Oh would you now?" Kiyomi glanced sidelong from under long spidery lashes and smirked. "It's not for the faint of heart."  
Erisu flushed and examined a rivulet of water on the rock beside her.  
"What're you into?" Asked Kiyomi and Erisu stammered awkwardly. Reading her mind the senior ninja laughed loudly. "I meant what fighting style are you?"  
"Oh." Erisu let out a meek attempt at laugher. "I'm a mid to long range, sensory/genjutsu type. I depend mainly on stealth and illusions."  
"We'd make a good team then." Kiyomi said, nudging Erisu with her elbow. "If I get my own team I'll request you as a comrade, what do you think?"  
"Sounds awesome," and she meant it. Erisu averted her eyes and noticed that her porcelain skin was starting to turn pink. "I'd better get out or I'll end up poached." She sighed regrettably. "But 'twas nice talking to you Kiyomi-san, thanks for the advice."  
"No problem, Erisu-chan." Kiyomi dipped her head in farewell as Erisu waded to the edge of the bath. She could feel the other woman's burgundy eyes on her as she climbed out of the water.  
"Erisu-chan!" Kiyomi caught her hand. "Your leg..!" Erisu froze as she realized this gross oversight on her part.  
"'Tis nothing," she said hastily, pulling away and covering herself in a towel.  
"But-"  
" _Really_ ," she pleaded, unable to look at Kiyomi in her shame. "It's nothing." She hurried from the springs without a backwards glance.

* * *

 **火**

* * *

Erisu breathed deeply to steady herself. This was it, she'd just do it. She had to start somewhere and where better than here?  
She rapped gently on the frame of a painted shoji door. The house hadn't changed, besides being less maintained then it had been during her childhood. A massive woman slid it open, her strawberry hair in a messy bun and her pale face lined with stress. She took one look at Erisu and her saffron eyes burst into flames of rage.  
" _You_ ," she said in a deadly voice, "how _dare_ you show your face here?"  
"I uh..." Erisu fumbled for words, nervously holding a small bouquet of flowers and tried to follow Kiyomi's advice. "Um... Hello, Sora-san." She bit her lip. "I was just delivering my condolences..." She bowed and offered the flowers to the woman who simply scoffed disdainfully.  
"I want nothing from you!" She sneered. "You know damn well it was your fault."  
"I'm very sorry for your loss, Sora-san" Erisu swallowed hard, eyes down. "I only wished to pay my respects to your daughter, would you please tell me where she's buried?"  
"Tell you where..? _Why_?! So you can deface and dishonour her resting place too?" The woman was trembling, and Erisu feared she might strike her. "Get out of my sight you _disgusting queer_! If you ever come 'round here again, so help me, I'll end you."  
Erisu nodded in acceptance and backed away. Every word rang true and it killed her inside. Unable to leave it like that though she glanced back up at the revolted expression on the woman's face.  
"I need you to know that I never meant to hurt anyone," she murmured, "least of all Miwa."  
" _Don't you say her name_!" Shrieked the woman, causing a flock of birds to scatter above. "You used her! Twisted her, made her love you, and then you left her! He might have taken her but YOU killed her, Erisu!"  
The raw truth tore her apart; Erisu turned tail and ran. The woman's screams followed her down the secluded street.  
"YOU KILLED MY BABY GIRL! YOU MURDERER!"

Erisu sprinted through the forest and across a long wooden bridge. She ran until her leg burned and then collapsed onto a bench beneath the low hanging branches of a cherry tree and burst into tears. She sobbed silently into her hands, the crumpled arrangement of flowers stinging her senses with its sickening sweetness. She could remember Miwa's face, hollowed from malnutrition and mistreatment, her golden eyes glazed and sightless as they reflected the cottony clouds above. That beautiful crimson hair lank and frayed. The deep gash across her throat like a gruesome necklace and the blood that'd run silently from her lush, parted lips...  
"Erisurin?" A tentative female voice asked curiously. Erisu looked up at a round and gentle face with large eyes like melted chocolate staring at her in wonder. Erisu quickly wiped away her tears and set the bedraggled flowers on the bench beside her.  
"Yes..?" She blinked rapidly to clear her vision and tried to smile politely.  
"It is you! I almost didn't recognize you with short hair!" The girl beamed. "Remember me?"  
"Harumi-chan?" Erisu stared as she recognized the dark haired girl from her childhood. Harumi leaned forward and hugged Erisu tightly as though not even a day had passed.  
"Wow, how long has it been?" Harumi sat down beside her, "five years? What are you doing back here?" Erisu hesitated, momentarily confused, had it really been that long?  
"I..um.. I'm a ninja," she answered rather stupidly.  
"What! Really?" Harumi patted her back encouragingly. "That's amazing! Congratulations!" Erisu forced another pathetic smile. "How're Rūka-kun and Emi-chan?" Erisu flinched at her siblings' names.  
"Actually it's just me," she paused, "I left my family a long time ago..."  
Harumi nodded in understanding. "It was that bad, huh?" Erisu nodded. "Well when did you get back?"  
"Only a few days ago," she replied. "I took a course at the academy and I'm now training for the Chūnin Exams."  
"Wow! Chūnin? You must be training so hard!"  
"Yeah." Erisu smiled for real this time as she remembered she still had Kakashi's company to look forward to later that day. "I have another lesson at noon."  
"I wouldn't be able to do that." Harumi shook her head in amazement. "I feel beat after just running errands!"  
"You're not a Kunoichi?"  
"Me?" She giggled. "No. I never could stand all that fighting. I'm working up at the dango shop, remember that place?"  
"Yeah." Erisu breathed slowly to recover her composure. "Are you still living with your brother?"  
"That dumbass? No way! I've got my own place now. What about you?"  
"I'm at the Sekkii Motel," Erisu confessed.  
"We should be roomies!" Harumi exclaimed then she noticed how pink the whites of Erisu's eyes were. "Are you okay?"  
"Hm? Oh. Yeah. I...yeah! I'm fine." She shook her hair in feigned confidence. "The pollen's just getting to me." She gestured to the blossoms above. Harumi saw through this façade in an instant and noticed the battered bouquet.  
"Were you..." She hesitated. "Visiting the Soras?"  
Erisu's artificial smile vanished and she dropped her eyes.  
"Sora-san hasn't been the same ever since the Konoha Crush... Ever since Miwa..."  
"I gathered as much." Erisu sighed as she tossed the flowers into a bush. "She wouldn't even tell me where she was buried."  
"She wasn't," Harumi told her grimly. "The family didn't even hold a funeral. I heard her body was taken by the Intelligence Force to be dismembered. Apparently they thought they could learn something about Orochimaru-sama's experiments from her remains, or something like that."  
Fresh tears ran over her cheeks. "...they took her apart..?" Even though her best friend had been a part of the assault two years prior, she simply couldn't bear the idea of Miwa's body being dissected in a laboratory.  
Harumi nodded solemnly. "Because she defected she couldn't be buried in the shinobi cemetery."  
"Oh..." Erisu's voice broke.  
"I heard that you..." Harumi chose not to finish the question but Erisu could feel her burning with curiosity.  
"No. I was there when she died but I didn't kill her." Then she said the words she'd said so many times that it had becme almost a habit, "*It wasn't me* . . . but then I guess it sort of was. We fought but she ended her own life. I can't really explain it."  
"I'm sorry, I might not of liked her all that much but I know you two were close."  
"We were." Erisu nodded in absent gratitude. "We were very close."  
An awkward silence fell around them as Erisu sensed all of her old friend's curiosity and pity fogging up the air.  
"Do want to get some dango with me?" She asked suddenly, desperate to get off the subject. "My treat."  
"Nonsense! I get a discount, I'll pay." Harumi stuck her tongue out and the two girls headed off for dumplings.

* * *

 **火**

* * *

Erisu bit into the sweet ball of rice flour and tofu, moaning appreciatively. Harumi chuckled around a mouthful of dango.  
"You and your sweets," she mused. "Do you still love pocky?"  
"Pocky was made by the gods." Erisu swallowed and leaned back with a sigh. They were sitting on a long stone bench watching the never ending stream of people moving through the market. Erisu kept a close eye on the time to ensure she wouldn't be late for training.  
"So, are you on a team?" Harumi asked.  
"No, they thought my age would complicate being on a squad with younger teammates." She sipped some sweet tea. "I'm under the tutelage of Kakashi-sensei."  
"Oh, scary." Harumi's eyes were wide. "I think I'd die of fright if he so much as looked at me. How'd you manage getting such an esteemed sensei? Not that I don't think you're good enough or anything."  
"He requested me," Erisu murmured. "We met under complicated circumstances and he put in a word to Tsunade-sama for me... Then he made me his personal student."  
"Woah!" Harumi was in awe. "What do you mean 'complicated circumstances'?" And so Erisu explained how she'd happened upon his fight with the spies (omitting the spies' allegiance to the Akatsuki and their purpose in Konoha for confidentiality reasons) and how she'd treated his injuries.  
"...when I told him I'd taught myself nearly everything I knew he was very intrigued and encouraged me to pursue a ninja career."  
"You were able to determine the poison by taste alone?!"  
"Erm yeah..." Erisu didn't want to sound like she was bragging so she diverted the subject. "You should've seen him take down his opponents. I'd read about his feats in the Third Shinobi World War and his defeat of the Demon of the Mist, Zabuza-sama, but to see him up close..."  
"Sounds like someone's a fan," Harumi teased.  
"I greatly admire him," Erisu said without a trace of embarrassment. "I mean how many non-Uchiha's can wield the Sharingan? And his _Chidori_! Have you seen how many ninken he has? I've only met one but I heard he has at least a half dozen and..."  
"Erisurin!" Harumi exclaimed, waving her hands to slow her old friend down. "He's awesome! I get it!"  
"Sorry." Erisu fiddled with her hair. "I'm just really excited to be his student. There's so much he can teach me."  
"But are your styles really compatible?" Harumi asked suddenly. "He's more of a high speed, close combat type isn't he?" Impressed that Harumi remembered some of what she'd learned in the academy, Erisu smiled.  
"That's the thing though," she said, trying to contain her excitement, "because of his Sharingan he's copied hundreds of jutsus and is knowledgeable enough to know what would best suit me. He's already expressed his intent to teach me how to make _Kage Bunshin_!"  
"What's the difference between normal clones and the shadowy type again?"  
"Shadow clones are corporeal instead of illusions. The user's chakra is evenly distributed among every clone, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power," Erisu recited. "The clones are capable of performing techniques, including the Shadow Clone Technique itself, on their own and can even bleed. Kakashi-sensei says they can think on their own and that their experiences will be recalled by the original caster once they've been dispersed. He thinks it would be a good technique for me because of my vast chakra and empathic abilities. He thinks I should join the Intelligence Force as an infiltrator once I make chūnin."  
"Did you memorize your textbook?" Harumi asked. "You sound like an encyclopaedia." Erisu turned pink and looked away. "But I'm glad to hear he has faith in you! Wasn't your grandpa an interrogator?"  
"He was..." Erisu's thoughts drifted; she'd nearly forgotten her extended family still made their home in the village. "...many of his clan are."  
"Have you tried to make contact with any of them?" Harumi asked.  
"No, I crossed paths with a cousin but she didn't recognize me." Erisu faked a smile to hide her hurt but it ended up looking more like a grimace. "Probably because of my hair."  
"It looks good on you though." Her friend grinned. "But I remember when you wore it in pigtails all the time!"  
Erisu laughed good-naturedly but found it unsettling to even be reminded of what she was like before Miwa died. That version of her didn't resemble who she was now in the slightest, inside or out. Then she caught sight of the time.  
"I have to go." She stood abruptly then bowed. "Thank you for the dango Harumi-chan." Harumi hopped to her feet and hugged the other girl affectionately.  
"We need to get together again soon" She kissed Erisu on the forehead. "Good luck with Kakashi-sensei." Erisu blushed, nodding, and bid Harumi farewell.

Reaching out to Miwa's mother had been, well, a disaster to be honest. But Harumi at least hadn't seemed to resent her for her sudden disappearance five years ago. It was like Kiyomi had said: they were friends once so there was no reason they couldn't be again. The emptiness in her heart had reduced slightly and she felt a flame of friendship where the ice had been.  
Feeling hopeful, Erisu headed off to see Kakashi with a newfound bounce in her step.

* * *

 **火**


	9. Chapter 7: Chrysanthemums

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

 ** _Chrysanthemums_**

~Kakashi~

"So did you contact the building manager of the suite I recommended?" Kakashi asked over the pages of his book.

"Yes, sensei." Erisu was tightening the bandages on her left leg. "I'm moving in the day after tomorrow actually."

"Is that so?" He didn't raise his eyes from the pages. They were sprawled in the rapidly lengthening grass that bordered the third training ground, beneath the shade of a massive weeping willow. Erisu was panting slightly beside him, having just exhausted herself during training. She'd successfully created two perfect shadow clones after two days of determined practice and was taking a short intermittence to hydrate before another attempt. This sort of training was the best, the sort where Kakashi could read rather than really participating.

"Make-Out Violence?" Erisu peered curiously at the cover. "Is it a romance?"

He scanned her from the corner of his eye without answering.

"18+? Is it violent and erotic then?"

He fixed his eyes to the page again without registering the words. Erisu sidled closer to peek over his shoulder. He snapped the book closed and stared at her darkly.

"You needn't be shy about it." She shrugged and adjusted the kunai holster on her thigh. "We're both adults here, are we not?"

He watched her suspiciously for a moment to make sure she had lost interest before flipping the novel open again.

 _His heart beat out of time as he spotted her standing alone in the mist. She had her back to him, her glossy hair dancing in the autumn breeze. She was still and calm in that moment, as beautiful and unattainable as the moon and stars. The thin fabric of her dress was damp, transparent as it clung to her ivory skin. In that moment his burning desire was all consuming, he longed to feel her hair in his fingers, to smell her clean unadulterated scent, to feel her lissome body against his..._

"Turn the page." Kakashi jumped in alarm, slamming the book shut hastily.

"Erisu," he hissed, face hot, "you can't read that."

"Why not?" She looked at him with what she must've thought was a fierce glare but all she did was pucker those pouty pink lips moodily, and narrow her sparkly feline eyes.

"It's for adults." He looked away quickly.

"In case you didn't notice I am an adult."

He opened his mouth to disagree and closed it again. They glowered at eachother for a moment as he grasped for a witty retort. His brain had gone strangely blank.

"It's rude to read over someone's shoulder," he said stiffly.

A lock of silky hair had fallen into Erisu's eyes, ruining her attempted scowl. She blew her hair out of her face folded her arms, looking away. His brows knitted slightly as he looked from the girl to the book and back again.

"Show me your clones again," he oredered to change the subject.

"All righty!" She hopped to her feet, their mild disagreement forgotten in the face of training. Clasping her hands together she concentrated her a moment then cried, "shadow clone jutsu!"

Three more Erisus appeared behind her, perfectly identical down to the stubborn cowlick at the part of her bangs. They looked around at eachother, smiling with shy excitement. The original Erisu beamed at her sensei.

"How's that, Kakashi-sensei?" She was so delighted by her success that his embarrassment regarding his book dissipated.

"They look good," he allowed as he rose to inspect them. He strolled up to the nearest Erisu who eyed him cautiously. He tapped her on the nose; she felt real enough. He clasped a hand on her shoulder rather roughly and shook her slightly. She swayed under his grasp, eyes consuming her face as she stared at him in confusion. He could feel her solid bones beneath her soft, warm skin. He jiggled her shoulder again and felt the bone circulate in its socket. She was a very real girl of flesh and bone.

"You seem to have mastered it." He nodded shortly as he turned away from the befuddled clone to address the real Erisu. "Is three the most you can make?"

"I think so. Anymore than that would be pushing it."

He nodded again, more to himself. Of course she wouldn't be able to create the vast numbers that Naruto could, she didn't have the enormous chakra of the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside her after all.

"Well, I'm satisfied," he told her as she dispelled the clones looking rather flushed. "I think we should call it a day." He turned to walk away then added, "want to join me for dinner?"

~Erisu~

Spring had brought with it rain of the likes that was rarely seen in the Land of Fire. The churning grey mass of cumulonimbus obscured the sun and assaulted the village without mercy. The gutters roared noisily as they overflowed and small lakes had formed around the clogged storm drains, while the impervious sloping streets streamed like rivers.

The markets were empty and windows shuttered as Erisu strolled down the wet street alone beneath a glistening black umbrella. She kept one hand tucked close to her chest to protect her bouquet of white lilies from the violent gale. The hissing wind sent the rain into frenzied, diagonal sheets of icy cold. Droplets ricocheted off the shingles above in a cacophony of unending plinking.

It was calming and rather beautiful to Erisu as she wandered through the ghost town. There wasn't a better cover for a discreet outdoor excursion than a storm. She'd rather be undisturbed today. Her black buckled boots squished through the puddles until she reached the vast expanse of headstones that made up the shinobi cemetery. Just as she'd hoped, the graveyard was deserted. She thought it was about time she'd visited her grandfather's grave and silently apologized to him for putting it off. Eyes reading each plaque, she searched for the headstone she'd never seen.

 **Yamanaka Jun'ichi**

Erisu knelt next to the slick stone tombstone and produced a rag to clean away the spatters of mud and soggy leaves. She placed the flowers solemnly and rose to take in the full scope of her grandfather's resting place. She prayed silently for peace and rest in the afterlife, rain pattering noisily on her umbrella. Satisfied that she'd honoured him adequately, Erisu turned to leave when she caught sight of another figure on the other side of the graveyard.

 _Kakashi_.

She watched him as he gifted a small bevel marker with chrysanthemums. He stood, still as stone, for an achingly long time, grief in every line of his body. His silver hair hung in his face under the weight of the rain, his clothing shining with wetness. Water streamed down his masked face and dripped from all his edges. Erisu observed him in heartbroken sympathy as he grieved alone. Then he straightened and wandered away, hands in pockets and head down. Once he was gone Erisu slunk over to the grave he'd visited and gazed down at the sorrowful flowers, petals gleaming from the cascading droplets of water. A simplistic and enigmatic font carved the deceased's name in the stone. Erisu read the inscription in hopes of getting some answers about her sensei's past.

 **Nohara Rin**

Erisu gazed towards the gap in the trees where he'd disappeared, wondering who the deceased girl could be...

"Hey you!" Harumi caught up with Erisu the following afternoon under a resolutely grey sky, although the rain had eased into a drizzle now. Her squat, curvy body was dressed in a cute purple hoody and yoga pants.

"I was just at your hotel room but it was vacant, you did say number twelve right?"

"Oh yes, sorry. I just finished moving into my new apartment this morning." Erisu quickly completed the transaction at the fruit stall and turned to her friend. "I was going to tell you but didn't know how to reach you."

"You got a place by yourself?" They set off together with no particular destination in mind. "I was kinda hoping we could get an apartment together, pool our resources, y'know?"

"Oh er..." Erisu carefully readjusted her shopping bag in her arms. "Where abouts do you live?"

"Across from the hot springs near the Naka River," Harumi replied, "it's a nice spot, really pretty view. A bit of a walk to the dango shop though."

"Ah, we're on opposite sides of the village," Erisu sighed, "I just got a place on the edge of the Yamanaka District by the library."

Harumi giggled.

"What?"

"You've always been such a bookworm, no wonder you got a place near the library!"

"I'm not a bookworm." Erisu raised her head imperiously. "I am a book dragon. The library is my lair; pity the fool who touches my horde of literature."

Harumi snorted with laughter causing a gaggle of girls to survey them snobbishly.

"Where are we going anywho?" Erisu asked suddenly as they slowed to a stop somewhere in a copse of river trees that Erisu didn't recognize.

"I dunno, I was following you." Harumi gazed around curiously.

"And I was following you," Erisu said in vague amusement. She looked around for a clan emblem that might hint at their whereabouts. With a sudden lurch behind her navel she recognized a red and white uchiwa fan displayed on a vast Torii gate and felt her blood run cold.

"Sup?" Harumi turned her cocoa eyes on Erisu inquisitively.

They were on the threshold of the abandoned Naka Shrine of the Uchiha... Disturbing dream fragments flickered across her mind as she stared at the symbolic fan that represented the clan's inherent fire style. She'd dreamt of the Sharingan, the moon, and... A pumpkin? She couldn't recall what the dream had been about exactly but an ominous chill crept down her spine.

"C'mon," Erisu muttered, turning her back on the shrine, "we're going the wrong way."

Erisu's bachelor suite was small and quant but all she needed. It was a simple 1K apartment with a kitchen unit complete with a dishwasher, a six mat living area with a corner devoted to her squashy double bed and an all in one unit bath. A decent sized balcony overlooked a grove of trees and a oshi-ire closet and study alcove made the living area more spacious than it seemed. The floors were a drab, scrubbed wood rather than tatami so she had marked some area rugs further up on her shopping list. The walls were all a boring shade of eggshell white but the appliances were chrome and the cabinets were finished in a glossy ebony black. She unlocked the apartment door and lead Harumi into the genkan where they removed their shoes and coats.

"This is nice," Harumi said in a tone of forced politeness.

"'Tis not much yet," Erisu said, unabashed, as she put away her groceries. "The balcony is large enough for a bistro table and some plants," she told her friend as she gave her a brief tour of the small flat, "but this window is what sold me."

She gestured towards a wide bay window in the right hand wall of the living room through which the library was plain as day. It jutted out slightly making a sturdy alcove in the wall that would make a perfect reading book once it was cushioned and curtained.

At the moment everything was still packed snugly in boxes against the walls.

"It'll take a bit of effort but I'll make it home." She smiled happily. She'd never had a place that was truly her own before and was excited to hone her homemaking skills.

"Tea?" She offered, the kettle was one of the few things already unpacked.

"Please," Harumu replied eagerly.

After a long and leisurely conversation over a couple pots of tea, Harumi helped Erisu unpack and settle into her new apartment. The sun had long since set behind the stubborn swarm of storm clouds still lingering on the horizon when Harumi finally headed home and Erisu's apartment was starting to look cozier. Well, it greatly resembled the lair of a book dragon anyways.

~Kakashi~

The graveyard was dotted here and there with families who'd come to tend their ancestors' graves after the storm. The last of the mourners were starting to file out when Kakashi arrived in the silver hue of twilight. His flowers were sodden and tattered when he arrived that evening to visit Rin. He cleared away the pitiful offering and polished the bevel marker in concentrated silence. After resting a fresh trio of white funeral flowers beneath her name he stepped back and sighed heavily. His pale hair trembling in the wake of the receding storm.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, "I'm so sorry."

Crickets hummed in the shadows like a minute string orchestra, rubbing their wings and legs like tiny violins. He listened to the chirping for a while.

"I took on a new pupil," he told Rin in a scarce voice that carried no further than her headstone, "her name's Erisu, she's almost as good of a medical ninja as you are...were.

"...and Minato-sensei's son will be back soon." The soft hooting of an owl joined the cricket strings like a baritone saxophone and the trees whispered like wooden flutes. "He reminds me a lot more of Obito than his father personality wise though," he mused, "strange how the following generations are like echoes of the past, isn't it? With only minor aberrations. Naruto is like a walking double of Obito except he's fair while Sasuke is like a shadowy clone of me. At least, who I used to be... When you were here.

"It took Obito's death before I had some sense knocked into me," he reminisced bitterly, "I just hope Sasuke finds his way back before he inadvertently destroys those he loves."

He remembered when Sasuke and Naruto had battled of the hospital roof, each intent on killing the other. The swirling hurricane or rasengan and the chittering electricity of chidori flying towards certain impact as Sakura raced between them to intervene... If he'd have been there a second later, he couldn't bear to think what could've happened.

"Did I do the right thing, Rin?" He'd asked her this nearly every night since Sasuke's desertion. He'd tried to reach Sasuke, implored him to see reason... He'd never been able to pass on Minato's sense of comradeship.

Sasuke had glowered up at him, trapped against the vast trunk of a tree by wire, forced to listen to his sensei.

"Let it go," he'd told the furious youth, "you've got to forget about revenge. Believe me, in this work I've met a lot of guys who feel the way you do. Trust me, for those who follow the path of revenge, it never ends well. You'll only tear yourself apart and even if you succeed with your revenge, what would you have then...? Nothing, emptiness."

His words had fallen on deaf ears though. Sasuke's hatred had already consumed him then as he'd shouted that Kakashi couldn't possibly understand how he felt. He'd then maliciously offered to murder all of his sensei's loved ones so that he'd get a taste of what Sasuke felt... To which Kakashi had calmly replied that everyone he'd ever loved was already dead.

"I've been around longer than you have kid, and I've had my share of troubles." Sasuke had merely sat there, his black eyes fathomless pits of murderous intent as Kakashi tried to make him understand. But Sasuke had been, and likely still was, too obsessed with his own pain to ever consider the horrors that others might've faced...

"So, it looks like neither of us have lived a charmed life exactly, have we? Still, we're not that bad off. At least you and I have been lucky enough to find new comrades to fill the void..." His words didn't seem to impact the boy though, at least, not in the way he'd intended. Sasuke had left that very night with the Sound Four... He hadn't stopped Sasuke from facing Itachi, hadn't diverted him from the dark path to power and revenge that Sasuke's been so determined to follow, he hadn't taught him how to value his friends, and he had been too late...

Naruto's motionless body lay at the water's edge, bloodied and cold... Beside him was Sasuke's headband, the Konoha emblem severed and abandoned. While that boy, who'd reminded him so much of himself, was already gone.

He'd been too late... Far too late.

"I guess I just wasn't a good enough teacher to him." The inscription below him blurred slightly. "Otherwise he'd still be here, right?" His whisper faded into a weary sigh. He wished that she'd hear him and answer him... _Just once_.

"Good night, Rin," he said, swallowing hard and blinking rapidly, "rest in peace." He turned away and strode off into the cover of darkness out of reach of the opalescent glow of the full moon above. Behind him the chrysanthemums bobbed to the melody of the night's serenade.


	10. Chapter 8: Kaleidoscope Eye

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

 _ **Kaleidoscope Eye**_

~Kakashi~

The polished kunai shaped memorial stone sat rigidly in a riverside glade beneath the swaying branches of the Nara Forest. Reminding him mildly of a compass rose, Kakashi examined the memorial in comfortable silence. His dark eye rested on the name of his former teammate, Uchiha Obito. He was unaware how long he'd been staring at the name until a long haunting cry sounded deep in the forest across the river, drawing him from his reverie. The Nara Clan's semi domesticated sika deer were restless.

He suddenly realized the time and shook his head to clear it. He was well over an hour late for his meeting with Erisu at the academy. Naruto was expected back any day now and Kakashi thought a tour of the Torture and Interrogation Headquarters might peek Erisu's interest in that specific employment option.

He reluctantly signed a complicated space/time jutsu and experienced the bizarre compressed sensation of teleporting. Tsunade was hunched over desk, her assistant hovering at her side. Shizune jumped in surprise as Kakashi's appearance in a burst of smoke on the awning outside the window. She dropped Tsunade's pet pig, Tonton in her alarm. Tsunade exploded in a muffled rant while Kakashi, smiling to himself, dropped soundlessly from the roof. Hopping from the eaves he made a lazy descent to the ground.

Erisu was sitting dejectedly on a rickety wooden swing in the schoolyard waiting for him. He held back, interested to observe her before showing himself. She was humming a soft and melancholy tune to herself when two higher rank shinobi came into sight. Kakashi recognized a burly Chūnin with flaxon coloured hair and in the standard shinobi uniform as a former classmate and edged further out of sight. The dark haired woman beside him was a stranger, although he could tell she was a Konoha-nin. Tall and athletic, she was wearing a dark Konoha undershirt with a green flack jacket that'd been cropped and hemmed to stop short at her ribs. She wore a black apron skirt and Anbu style sandal boots.

Her expression was one of obvious annoyance and she suddenly rounded on the Herculean man beside her and started shouting.

"Shut the fuck up, Hiroki, you blithering idiot!" She barely reached his shoulder but showed no fear as she berated him. "If I hear another word about Yuma I will gut you like a pig!"

 _Yuma, hm?_ Kakashi's eyes narrowed. In the corner of his eye he saw Erisu had gone completely white and, while she could be rather jumpy, he didn't understand her sudden fear.

"Hey, hey, chill out Kiyomi-kun." Hiroki yawned, waving his hand dismissively.

"Don't you belittle me!" Kiyomi fumed, "don't forget I outrank your lazy, good-for-nothing ass!"

"You're gonna give yourself a hernia," he told her as he pushed past her easily, "and don't think I won't be telling Yuma-Taichou all the stuff you've been sayin' behind his back, yeah."

Kiyomi was positively livid. "You wouldn't dare," she snarled.

He looked down at her wearily. "And have him pissin' all over me too?" He said dryly, "I don't think so, yeah."

Kiyomi's eyes flashed but she didn't reply as they continued across the lot towards the massive building. Then she caught sight of Erisu on the wooden swing and her anger vanished.

"Erisu-chan, hey!" She waved like a schoolgirl and beckoned Erisu over excitedly. The sudden personality switch made Kakashi's eye twitch.

Erisu concealed her expression of aprehension and approached the superior shinobi calmly.

"How're you doing?" Kiyomi asked at normal volume; Kakashi edged a little closer to eavesdrop.

"I'm alright, you?" Erisu stayed polite but her eye darted nervously towards the hulking shape of Hiroki.

Kiyomi cast Hiroki a dark look as though his presence was offensive and said airily, "that's Himura Hiroki, my teammate, but you can ignore him, he's a complete bore."

"I heard that, yeah!" Hiroki said loudly.

"Well I wasn't whispering!" She rolled her eyes and, putting a hand on her hip, tossed her black sheet of hair dramatically. "Men. Amiright?"

"Apparently, Kiyomi-kun's suffered from a severe head trauma and has forgotten her manners." Hiroki extended a massive hand to Erisu who took it nervously. "Hiroki, and what can I call you?"

"Hakuchō Erisu," she dipped her head politely, "'tis nice to meet you, Himura-senpai."

"Well that's an introduction, yeah," Hiroki addressed Kiyomi, "since you needed a demonstration."

"Now, Hiroki! A gentleman should know his place in the presence of ladies," Kiyomi simpered in an unpleasant voice of fake kindness, "shut your fat, ugly face or I might have to remove your tongue!"

"Why you little bitch...!" He cracked his knuckles menacingly and Kakashi decided now would be a good time to reveal himself.

"Hey, Erisu," he called with a lazy wave, "sorry I'm late I got lost in the fog."

Hiroki's brows knitted as he looked around at the pleasant weather, perplexed.

"O-sama," Erisu bowed deeply and Kakashi averted his gaze. He wished she wouldn't be so overly polite, addressing him with equal respect as a Kage.

"Oh!" Kiyomi looked meaningfully at Erisu and wiggled her eyebrows in Kakashi's direction. "Kakashi-senpai, I presume?" Kiyomi shook his hand tightly. "I'm Kiyomi, it's a pleasure!"

"Are you a friend of Erisu-san's?" He asked casually.

"Acquaintances, really. But we get along well, right Erisu-chan?" She winked a dark burgundy eye and Erisu shuffled awkwardly.

Kakashi wondered momentarily why Erisu hadn't mentioned Kiyomi when Hiroki spoke up.

"Hatake-san," he said with a stiff nod, "doing well?"

"I am, Himura-san, you?"

"Yeah, I made Chūnin."

"Oh really?"

"Burr," Kiyomi interjected with a mock shiver, "cold much?"

Hiroki looked ready to hit her when Kakashi smoothly walked between them to Erisu's side. Hiroki looked down at Kakashi disdainfully and seemed to be chewing his tongue.

"Erisu..." Kakashi sidled over and leaned in to keep his words private. "I've got a surprise for you today."

"Pocky?"

"What? No, I thought you might like to tour the headquarters of the Torture and Interrogation Force."

"Oh, um." She'd turned a rather delicate shade of green. "W-which division?"

He hadn't expected this reaction but when he opened his mouth to answer Kiyomi swooped past him and caught Erisu in a rather amorous embrace. Kakashi stared.

"You take care of yourself," she was saying tenderly, still hugging Erisu very closely. "I want you in my team remember?"

"Y-yes, Senpai," Erisu stammered from Kiyomi's bosom.

"Good." She withdrew, winking at Erisu and sauntered away waving over her shoulder, "nice meeting you Kakashi-senpai!"

He said nothing as the woman strode into the building with Hiroki following reluctantly.

"I'm sorry, sensei. You were saying?"

"Well, as I've mentioned before, I think you'd make a good interrogator." He eyed her analytically. "Your empathy is quite similar to the Yamanaka's mind transfer."

"Would I not do better in hospice?"

"There are plenty of medical ninjas," he answered dismissively, "I think you'd get more accomplished as an interrogator, and that's what you want right?" He watched her shrewdly as she considered his words, wondering, on top of all his other concerns, what exactly was driving her. She hadn't been indoctrinated into selfless loyalty to the Hokage like other kids, and she had no rival that he knew of to compete with. Yet, while she maintained a calm exterior, there was a silent ambition about her that compelled him.

"Shall we?" He gestured towards the building complex.

She looked up at him thoughtfully with those groggy blue eyes and nodded once.

"Is Yamanaka Inoichi-sama on duty today?" She asked in an offhand voice as they headed towards the building.

"He might be." Kakashi shrugged. "Why, do you know him?"

Her expression was impassive when she replied, "not particularly."

They stepped into the entrance hall when they were again interrupted. Tsunade was sweeping towards them, face strained, jacket billowing behind her.

"Kakashi," she called as she neared, "I wanted to discuss your plans for your team." He said nothing until she'd reached their side.

"Naruto's not back yet." It seemed an a bad time to bring up his soon to be reorganizing team, especially in front of his student...

"Sakura's training is complete and Naruto will be back within the week," she continued briskly as if she hadn't heard him, "of course you'll be one member short with Sasuke gone but we'll deal with that when the time comes."

Erisu was looking from Tsunade to Kakashi with polite interest. Tsunade noticed Erisu for the first time, glancing down at her curiously.

"How are you Hakuchō-san?" She asked.

"Very well, thank you, Tsunade-hime," she murmured, clearly not having expected to be addressed by the Hokage.

"If you wouldn't mind, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said pointedly, "I'm about to give Erisu-san a tour of the Torture and Interrogation Force."

"Why?" Tsunade said bluntly, "I thought she was a medical ninja?" Before he could reply she turned to Erisu again. "Kakashi tells me you created your own chakra transference jutsu and were able to identify a poison by taste?"

"Quite right, Ohime-sama." Erisu was examining Tsunade's high heeled sandals.

"You'd do well in the emergency trauma wing of the hospital, or as a medic in the field."

"Thank you, Ohime-sama."

"How do you feel about blood?" The Fifth asked. Their conversation was sounding more like an interrogation. "A strong stomach is important if you're going to be treating severe injuries."

"'Tis only blood." She raised her eyes to meet the wise hazel stare. "Flesh wounds bother me not, when psychological wounds could have been inflicted."

Tsunade's face was blank. "Why do you talk like that?" She asked sharply, "are you trying to sound smart?" Kakashi eyed Erisu silently, her speech pattern _was_ odd.

"I'm sorry?" Her voice was growing higher with nerves.

"You're using archaic terms," Tsunade said impatiently. "'Tis', 'quite right'."

"Oh... I didn't realize... Did it sound pretentious?" Her eyes were wide with concern. "'Tis-it is only that I..." She trailed off awkwardly, shrinking under the expectant stare of the Hokage.

Kakashi rubbed his head. She was as limp as a boned fish.

"Forgive me Ohime-sama," Erisu bowed hastily, "I didn't mean to offend."

"I'm not offended." She raised a thin brow, bemused.

Kakashi could see Erisu melting miserably and intervened.

"Tsunade-sama," he broke in, "would you excuse us, please? I want to get this tour done."

"Fine fine." She waved him off. "We'll talk about Team Kakashi later then." She started to walk away then paused and said, "keep up the good work Hakuchō-san."

"Erisu-chan," Kakashi began softly once the Hokage was gone, "why _do_ you talk like that?"

She looked up at him meekly, cheeks red with humiliation. "I imagine tis cause I was isolated for so long," she told him quietly, "I dedicated nearly three years to study and meditation while tending the grounds of the Fire Temple. I spent all my time poring over documents from before the formation of the shinobi villages, speaking only really to the monks when I'd enter the temple to pray... Maybe the old terms and dialects rubbed off on me from my constant studies? Maybe I forgot that such terms were no longer used on a day to day basis?

"I doubt I spoke in such a way as a child but I can't recall. Is it the accent of the isolated? I don't know. Reading such ancient texts and having so little human interaction..." She sighed. "I'm socially awkward aren't I?"

"A bit," he admitted. She giggled weakly at her floor.

Kakashi cast an eye down the corridor. Tsunade seemed to disapprove of Erisu becoming an interrogator but he still thought sealing her away in the hospital would be a waste of her keen mind and quick reflexes. The idea of wandering through the headquarters suddenly seemed troublesome and pointless.

"Let's do this another day," he said in boredom. "There's a jutsu I've been wanting to try out instead."

Relief flickered across Erisu's face briefly, and he absently wondered why.

"As you wish, O-sama-"

"Call me Kakashi." He opened the door for her and watched her slink out, whispering her thanks. Her walls were up so high and her confidence so low that he wasn't surprised she'd caved beneath the Hokage. He remembered how she'd opened up and debated politics with him and steeled himself to bring out that side of her again.

~Erisu~

Luck was on her side. Kiyomi hadn't asked about the curse mark and she hadn't been forced into the path of her uncle. Kakashi had changed his mind and she'd been been spared the risk of crossing paths with Inoichi. Too many questions would have been raised if he'd recognized her. Questions about her mother and... She wouldn't be able to cope if Kakashi unearthed the twisted events that'd lead to the curse. What would he say? Likely drop her as a student and alert the shinobi police force...

Erisu sighed dejectedly.

"Sup?" Kakashi asked, his nose in his book as they headed towards the training ground.

"So sensei, your new jutsu... Might I have a hint as to its nature?" She clasped her hands behind her back nonchalantly. He regarded her suspiciously without answering, noting her snub of his question.

Silence resumed. They walked side by side for a few more paces before Kakashi finally spoke.

"I'm a bit curious about this Kiyomi woman," he said as he turned a page, "did you meet recently?" She knew he was asking because of her statement that she had no friends.

"Yes sir, at the hot springs actually." She ruffled her pale hair, eyes ahead. "We got on rather well, but 'twas the first time I'd seen her since."

He eyed her silently.

"It was," she corrected herself consciously and he chuckled.

"Don't worry about it," he told her leisurely, "it's not a big deal."

She blinked gratefully then halted. There was an extravagant window display of the most succulent looking chocolates she'd ever laid eyes on. She skipped over to the window and gazed excitedly through the glass.

"Sensei look." She pointed to a large cherry filled chocolate with a fancy drizzle. "A Sharingan."

He peered over her shoulder at the pinwheel patterned truffle and his eye creased in amusement. She grinned back at him but found a rather intense look in his eye as he held her gaze. Confused, she turned back to the display to read the price tags. She recoiled as if she'd been burned.

"By the moon and stars!" She exclaimed, "that's just immoral!"

She jumped at Kakashi's voice behind her. "First you're saying you studied ancient texts in isolation, and the next you're fawning over overpriced chocolates." He shook his head.

She was about to apologize but realized his shoulders were shaking in silent laughter.

"Cmon," he said looking down at her with...fondness? "I want to see what you think of my jutsu."

They entered the third training ground and Kakashi lead the way across the glass. The days were getting steadily warmer and the blossoms had started to fall to be replaced by leaves. The agile man flipped a few stones in his fingers before placing them on the posts and stepping back. Intrigued, Erisu watched him as he slipped back his headband and opened his brilliant red eye. She was distractedly admiring the contrast of the scarlet eye with his silver hair when the black swirls on his iris suddenly conjoined. She stared in fascination as the eerie kaleidoscope morphed into a shuriken shape.

"Y-your eye..!" She stammered in a hushed voice.

He looked over at her, the piercing Sharingan chilling her. "It's the advanced version, Mangekyō Sharingan," he explained calmly.

But she was absorbed by the vision of his altered Sharingan that she'd glimpsed when her Himitsugan had opened. The eye that she'd intuitively known had been created by horrible loss...

"How does one obtain said eye?" She asked him quietly.

He studied her for a moment then turned his gaze to the posts without answering. She watched in silent fixation as he focused on the stone on the left, pupil dilating. The space surrounding the stone shimmered and distorted. Then the space twisted and warped as a spiralling void opened and the stone vanished. Kakashi exhaled deeply and closed his left eye.

"Space/time Dōjutsu!" Erisu exclaimed in uncontainable excitement, "oh but sensei! You didn't need to speak, or perform any seals...! How did you do that? Where did you send it?"

Kakashi titled his head, looking at her with a smiling eye. "You caught on quickly," he said calmly, "you deduced what I did immediately. I'm impressed."

Startled by the praise, Erisu forgot her excitement and stared up at him, perplexed.

"I warped it to another dimension," he told her conversationally, "I'm still getting the hang of it. Practicing my aim and everything."

She gazed at him in blatant admiration. "The amount of mental discipline that must require," she breathed, "you're amazing." She'd said it without thinking and was astonished by her own forwardness.

He gazed at her steadily, reading her. Her heart palpated with anxiety but she felt elevated that she'd expressed to him how very very amazing her really was. But words alone could never convey the depths of his brilliance.

"Is there anything I can do, sensei?" She asked hopefully, "anything to assist you?"

He scratched his jaw thoughtfully, eye fixed on her unblinking. "You want to be my assistant?"

"Indubitably." Again she'd spoken without thinking. "At least if you'd have me."

"I'm supposed to be training you for your exams not using you to-"

"Not using me sir," she said quickly, "I'm at your service, sensei, to help wherever I can."

He stared at her.

"Sorry, service is a rather strong word, is it not?" Erisu looked over at the other two rocks gleaming in the mid day sun. "I'm making a fool if myself, aren't I?"

"No." He'd moved to her side without her notice and for a fleeting moment she could sense his emotions as clearly as those of others. His surprise, gratitude, amusement... And it was gone again, replaced by stoic calm. His emotions were hidden just as his face was.

"Your jutsu is very impressive, O-sama," she said sincerely, sneaking a look into that dark grey eye. "Thank you for allowing me to bear witness."

"Hm." He turned away. "Thanks Erisu, I appreciate your offer."

He'd pulled his headband back over his eye and hidden his hands in his pockets again. The sloping line of his spine and broad shoulders were outlined in a golden highlight from the sun while his face was cast in shadow beneath his hair. Leaves danced past on the warm wind and his silver hair was dappled with light and shadows beneath the clouds. There was something... _Beautiful_ about him.

"Well..." He looked over at her, eyelid drooped in that characteristically sleeper manner. "Now that you've got a hang of shadow clones why don't you try using them against me in combat?"

"Of course sensei," she murmured as the spell was broken, "whatever you say."


	11. Chapter 9: The Fox and the Blossom

**CHAPTER NINE**

 _ **The**_ ** _Fox and the Blossom_**

~Kakashi~

A sultry haze had settled over Konohagakure and the streets that had not long ago been blanketed in white flower petals were now swept clean for the quickly approaching summer. Strolling over the hot clay shingles of the rooftops, Kakashi contented himself in rereading the Icha Icha series yet again. It was so complicated and dramatic, with the most compelling love triangles and steamiest sexual encounters he'd ever seen in print. Jiraiya really was an astounding author.

A familiar shape was meandering along the street below, drawing his attention from a particularly risqué scene. He slowed to observe Erisu over his book.

She was drifting along, hands raised slightly as if she was struggling to remain balanced. Her large, pale eyes were as misty as ever, as if she'd just awoken and was blinking away sleep. His eye narrowed slightly as he noticed the way her slim and supple figure attracted the eyes of men as she passed.

Mildly interested in what she got up to outside of training, he doubled back and walked along the roof parallel to the road. A young man "accidentally" bumped into Erisu. His false apologetic laugh carried on the warm air. Erisu simply swept around him and carried on without a word, eyes absent of the faintest trace of acknowledgement. The youth stared at her, lock jawed before looking over at his friend and jerking his head in her direction. He muttered something and they both howled with unkind laughter.

 _Typical_ , Kakashi thought wearily, _boys that can't handle rejection._

Erisu halted abruptly and turned to stare at the building opposite Kakashi. He followed her gaze and spotted, without surprise, that she'd been distracted by a fluffy and rather disgruntled looking cat wearing a hideous magenta bow.

Smirking, Kakashi pocketed his book and crossed above the street on a telephone wire. Erisu made a beeline for the cat, scrambling up the downspout like a squirrel, and climbed onto the second story balcony. The cat was notorious for always escaping its overbearing owner (a flamboyant woman who was regularly hiring ninja to track her "precious baby" down again). It was well known for being terribly hard to catch.

He watched Erisu with amused pity as she edged towards the cat, who was eying her contemptuously. On the eaves that overhung the balcony beneath the uppermost penthouse, Kakashi seated himself on the sun warmed shingles to watch what was sure to be an amusing spectacle.

Then Erisu cooed in that bizarrely accurate cat impression, and the cat immediately pranced over to her, tail erect in greeting. Of course.

"Hey!" An old man wearing nothing but a rather discoloured pair of briefs emerged onto his balcony looking livid. "What're yeh doing on my balcony, idiot girl?!"

Erisu startled, the cat poised and bristling on her shoulders.

"Yeh damn ninja," he thundered, "think yeh can trespass on private property, do yeh?"

"I'm sorry, Ojiisan! I just happened upon your darling kitty and-"

"And what?! Yeh thought yeh'd just invite yerself over, eh?! Get out 'o here before I call a ninja on yeh!"

Erisu cocked her head. "I am a ninja, sir."

"I already know that, don't I?" He roared, "yeh think I'm stupid?"

"No sir, of course not, sir! But-if you don't mind my saying-Ojiisan, I'm believe you have ringworm."

"What? I ain't got no worms! Do I look like I have a fishing rod?!"

Kakashi stifled a laugh.

"Ring-worm," she said clearly, "'tis a fungal infection of the epidermis and is most contagious. But I have a rather effective topical ointment that'll clear it up if you'd like, sir."

"Yer a peddler! I knew it, oh yes!"

"Free of charge, sir! 'Tis quite inflamed but I could-"

" _Get off my balcony!_ " He bellowed and Erisu scurried backwards in alarm.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted by your-er-condition. Do you want your cat?"

The cat yowled and spat defiantly at this suggestion.

"That ain't my cat! Are yeh deaf? I said get off my balcony!"

"Certainly, right away, sir. I didn't mean to trespass-"

" _Now!_ " He staggered forward to shove her and Erisu quickly flipped over the rail and into the street.

Kakashi watched her streak away towards the nearest shop, the cat clinging to her back. The old man, his saggy sun damaged skin covered in nasty red circles, nodded in satisfaction and trudged back into his apartment. Shaking his head in amusement, Kakashi pulled out Make-Out Violence again and continued where he'd left off.

Then an audible sigh drew Kakashi's attention and he saw a teenaged boy perched on the top of a telephone post gazing around at the village fondly. There was no mistaking the spiky blond hair, brilliant orange jumper, and horizontal whisker markings. He was considerably taller, probably the same height as Kakashi now. His face was longer and his jaw sharper, his forehead protector on a long black strip of cloth that danced in the breeze. He was a spitting image of his father, but was as fierce and blazing as his mother...

Naruto chuckled at Hokage Rock. "So they've added Tsunade's ugly old mug to the mountain! Ha!"

"You sure have grown haven't you, Naruto..?"

Naruto looked over in surprise, his bright blue eyes landing on his sensei.

"Yo," Kakashi waved from his comfortable sitting position.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He leapt onto the roof positively beaming, "you haven't changed at all!" He paused, "wait! Oh yeah!" Naruto stopped suddenly and rummaged through his bag. "I've got a present for you!"

Kakashi lifted his eye from his book with mild curiosity. Since when did Naruto give out presents? Naruto produced the gift and Kakashi's eye rounded in exhilarated astonishment.

" _Whaaaat?!_ " He stared in unrestrained amazement. "You... H-how... Th... This is..."

A beautiful blue book with a brooding figure contemplating love adorned the cover. The title: Make-Out Tactics... Kakashi took it in trembling hands.

"It's the latest in the Icha Icha series after three years!" Naruto was saying. "It's pretty boring but you'll still like it... I think."

 _Boring?_ Kakashi gazed at the cover in reverence. He'd been dying to know what happened next for years.

"Right! Next stop Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed as he charged on ahead of his two teachers. Jiraiya's wild white mane gleamed like snow in the brilliant sunlight, the gold circles on the broad chest of his scarlet Hiroki glinting like jewels. Birds called overhead, floating weightlessly on the warm up drafts and cartwheeling in the air.

Kakashi, already hooked, turned the page of the new Icha Icha book.

"As promised, I'll leave Naruto back in your care," Jiraiya said in an undertone. Kakashi looked over silently, their thoughts on the same resolute fact. Now that Naruto was back from his seclusion on Mount Myōboku he was in grave danger.

"I fear the Akatsuki is growing impatient," Jiraiya went on grimly, "they might make an attempt on Naruto soon... I'm going to go around and gather as much information as I can."

A sudden yell of alarm snapped them both to attention. Naruto had frozen.

"Sa... Sakura-chan?" He said in disbelief, staring at the pink haired girl ahead.

She turned in surprise. "Eh? Naruto?!"

Kakashi turned his attention back to his book. Would the raven haired hero finally declare his undying love?

" _Perverted ninjutsu?!_ " Sakura roared, " _You idiot!_ " There was a crack of fist on face and the boom of impact as Naruto crashed to the ground with earth shaking force.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked up, mildly interested as to why Naruto was bloodied on the ground. Sakura grabbed the disoriented boy, her face contorted with rage.

"I was wrong! You haven't changed one bit!" She bellowed in his face. "I haven't seen you in two years and within two minutes, you go straight back into that?! _Idiot_!"

Konohamaru darted behind Kakashi and cowered, trembling. Tsunade and Jiraya were staring dumbfounded as Sakura violently shook Naruto by the front of his sweater.

"What about that wonderful feeling of respect I had for you just now?!" She screamed in fury. "As if I could be feeling sad that I'm not all grown up like you!"

"Hey, hey, Sakura calm down..." Kakashi waved his hand reassuringly but was genuinely disturbed by her murderous expression as she rounded on him. "Konohamaru here is terrified.." Konohamaru ducked out of Sakura's sight.

"Right.." Tsunade spoke up now. "The nostalgia ends here. Kakashi." She prompted.

He clapped his book closed and straightened professionally. Sakura released Naruto who struggled to his feet. They looked at their sensei curiously.

"It's been a while hasn't it?" Kakashi said softly, scanning his two old students together again after two and s half years. They both stared at him attentively. "From now on you two will come with me on team related missions."

Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened.

"It's different from before," he continued calmly, "it's no longer student and pupil. Starting today, we're all equal Konoha shinobis." He paused. "Well..." He produced two sweetly jingling bells. "First I'm a bit curious as to how you've developed. The rules are the same as when I first met you two."

Determined smiles were etched on their faces now.

"If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't succeed in getting the bells."

~Erisu~

"Did you hear? Naruto-san's back!" Tenten launched a massive windmill shuriken at a post in a secluded training ground. Dense forest surrounded the small grassy clearing and crows jeered above.

"Oh? When did he get back?" Erisu mimicked Tenten's movement and sent her weapon flying across the glade. It grazed the targeted post and plunged into a tree. Erisu scowled.

"A couple hours ago," Tenten said as she back flipped and sent a swarm of kunai at her post. "I overheard Tsunade-sama and Gai-sensei talking about it outside the Hokage's office."

Erisu fumbled with a handful of shuriken and cut her finger. She hissed a curse under her breath and licked the blood.

"I wonder if that means Team Seven's being reassembled?" Tenten went on. "Probably, right?"

"Yeah, probably."

Lee burst into the clearing in a cloud of leaves. He leapt into the air and knocked Tenten's second flurry of kunai off course with a spinning kick, the blades bouncing off his hidden ankle weights with metallic clinking. Tenten glared at him as he landed spryly.

Lee dashed over to where Erisu was sitting bowlegged in the grass, sucking her sliced finger.

"Erisu-san!" He greeted her excitedly, "I did not know you would be here!" Erisu smiled up at his round face, helmeted by his shiny black bowl cut. With his green clothes and wide, thin mouth with its distinctive cuspid's bow, he reminded her vaguely of a turtle.

"Tenten-san and I sometimes train together," Erisu explained, "she's been teaching me how to better handle weapons, you see."

Lee noticed her bloody finger and knelt, looking sympathetic. "Would you like a bandage?" He offered kindly, reaching for his hip pouch as he spoke.

"I'm alright, thank you." She focused her chakra concentratedly and urged the cut to seal itself. It healed enough to stop bleeding. Erisu examined it scornfully. She could do better than that.

"Wow!" Lee was staring raptly at the slice which was now a pale white line. "You are very good at medical ninjutsu!"

"I..." she hesitated, aware Lee wasn't capable of performing any ninjutsu, "thank you, Lee-san. Anywho, how're you doing?"

"I'm fine." He couldn't contain his excitement as he added, "I just heard that Naruto-san is back!"

"Yeah." Erisu smiled. "Tenten-san just told me. Are you and Uzamaki-san close?"

"We were in the Chūnin Exams together," Lee reminisced, "I was hospitalized after fighting Gaara-sama and wasn't able to continue but Naruto-san made it to the final rounds." He paused and the conflicting feeling of pride, envy, and determination washed over her. "He defeated Neji."

Erisu nodded, recalling the tournament. "Oh yes, I remember that..." Her thoughts strayed back to the arena where Neji had announced the injustice of the Hyūga clan and revealed the cruel seal on his forehead. "... 'Twas a most intriguing match." Lee was quiet for a while, his emotions swirling around her. Erisu blinked rapidly to keep her eyes from turning pink.

"Isn't Gaara-sama Kazekage now?" She asked to veer him back out of his brooding thoughts

"Yeah!" His endearing bipolar nature asserted itself. "The youngest in Sunegakure's history!"

Erisu smiled. It was good to know that even a boy like Gaara could make a difference for the better.

"A hundred bullseyes!" Tenten whooped.

"Do you think Team Seven will be reassembled?" Lee asked Erisu.

Erisu examined her finger meticulously. "Yeah, probably," she repeated. Her stomach knotted and she unknowingly ripped up a handful of grass. Something was gnawing at her innards and making an irritating hum in her ears. She shook it off and violently crammed her feelings into the back of her mind.

A black butterfly fluttered past her and Erisu stiffened. It danced serenely across the meadow to a cluster of spider lilies near the base of an ancient oak. The red petals were splattered against the bark like blood as the delicate butterfly landed amidst the chaotic tendrils.

"Erisu-san?" Lee's voice was tinged with concern.

She gazed past him unseeingly, her foggy eyes fixed on the darkly symbolic insect and the tragic flowers. A nasty chill enveloped her as her vision had darkened, tunnelling.

"Erisu-san...?" Lee said tentatively, "are you feeling okay?"

She leapt to her feet, wobbling as a wave of nausea washed over her, then regained her composure and smiled cheerfully.

"I must be off, Lee-san," she said calmly, then looked over at Tenten who was bludgeoning the post with a savage flail. "Thank you for the pointers, Tenten-san!"

She headed off, trying to dismiss her growing sense foreboding about Naruto's return and prayed that the omen was mere coincidence.

~Kakashi~

Catching his breath, Kakashi slumped against a tree. All around him was the forest was whispering with the stirrings of nocturnal wildlife as the moon peered out behind a swath of cloud. His Sharingan surveyed the gloom of the wood, ferns rattled in the breeze that coiled up from the riverbed. Pale glints of animalistic eyes flashed in the undergrowth as animals slunk through the dark.

Naruto and Sakura were nowhere to be seen. Kakashi inhaled deeply to steady himself. Using his Sharingan for such a prolonged time was treacherous to his stamina since his body wasn't genetically designed to handle the Uchiha's Kekkei Genkai. That was his weakness. Sakura's incredible, superhuman strength was something to behold and Naruto's mastery of his Shadow Clones was astounding.

 _Their growth is brilliant..!_ He thought with an inkling of pride. But Kakashi remained on the lookout for their approach, careful not to be too cheerful, they were his opponents after all. With his right eye closed to better hone his predictive sight, he scanned the shadowed woods.

Then he caught a whiff of ramen broth and flowery shampoo... They were here.

Kakashi spun around, eyes unblinking as Sakura and Naruto burst from the canopy.

They had to be joking, making a direct attack!

"Now, Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Let's go, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto challenged as he lunged downwards from the branches. Kakashi braced himself.

"The last joke in Make-Out Tactics:" Naruto flew at the older ninja, slowed by the pinwheel eye, "the truth is that the main character-"

"Wh-what?!" Horror gripped him. Not a spoiler, not after having waited three years! Kakashi covered his ears, but Naruto kept talking and the Sharingan copied his lips.

 _No!_ Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut desperately.

Bells jingled sweetly. Kakashi opened his eyes cautiously to see the kids holding the bells with smug satisfaction.

"You have to look underneath the underneath," Naruto said slyly.

"Right, sensei?" Sakura stuck out her tongue.


	12. Chapter 10: Warnings and Whispers

**CHAPTER TEN**

 ** _Warnings and Whispers_**

Kakashi~

The three ninja strolled through the village. The babble of shoppers and clatter of cooking pervaded the warm morning air as the smells of sizzling oil and steamed meat drifted from the shops.

"Well..." Kakashi looked at the two complacent teens over his book. "You have gotten strong, huh? I'm amazed you actually got the bells."

Naruto chortled. "Maybe I've even surpassed you, Kakashi-sensei!"

"What're you saying?" Kakashi demanded in mock offence, "such conceit." He chuckled amiably, eye closed in contentment. He'd missed the obnoxious boy...

"Anyway," Kakashi went on, "I'm still young and recently I developed a brilliant new jutsu..."

Naruto's stomach rumbled loudly.

"Ah yeah!" He turned to Sakura. "We still haven't gone home or to Ichiraku Ramen yet!"

"Yeah, I'm a bit hungry too from training yesterday," Sakura agreed.

Kakashi looked on, stung. They used to react to everything he said... They used to be so cute...

"Right! It'll be Kakashi-sensei's treat!"

"Alright, sensei!"

"...Sorry," he paused to manufacture an excuse, "but I need to compile and submit a list of the formations for the new teams, so it's goodbye for now." He signed a teleport jutsu, ignoring their protests and vanished in a plume of smoke.

"Why are they interested in the Land of Wind?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"Well... It's not completely clear yet," Jiraiya told him, voice low so as to not be overheard, "but they've been frequenting the border... They seem to be marshalling an assault of Sunagakure."

Kakashi twirled the stick of his dango distractedly as he considered this. The din of conversation of the other patrons helped mute the whispered discussion between the two esteemed shinobi.

"The Sand have been warned and are preparing," Jiraiya went on, his slanted eyes narrowed, "Anbu have been deployed to key areas around the outskirts... Even so..." His voice darkened, "I wonder if they'd be able to forcibly stop someone like me from entering the country."

"But why would the Akatsuki start with flashy movements? What's their objective?"

"I don't know that much," Jiraiya sighed bitterly, "I'm going to go around and investigate some more."

Kakashi nodded, deep in thought.

"There's something else," Jiraiya added in an even lower voice, "the seal on the Kyūbi is weakening."

Kakashi snapped his head up in alarm.

"When Naruto is overcome with emotion, particularly intense anger, the Fox's chakra will start to seep out of him." Kakashi stared raptly at the Sannin as he spoke. "I don't want to say much more here but believe me you'll know it when you see it. It's _imperative_ that you stop it before it takes over.

"When the chakra seeping from his body starts to take the form of the Demon Fox stop it..." His expression was sinister. "Got it...? _When it's just 'one tail' stop it_..." He passed a small paper seal across the table. "...use this. It can instantly suppress the chakra."

Kakashi nodded stiffly and tucked the seal safely away. Jiraiya rose heavily from the table, his face appearing more grave and aged than ever before.

"I must be off though," he said with the air of a man expecting the worst, "take care of Naruto, don't let him get too worked up."

Kakashi stood and dipped his head. "I'll keep an eye on him," he assured the sage seriously, "travel safe."

~Erisu~

Depression is more than just sadness. Just as hatred is more than anger. Beneath the emotion there is a cause, an intangible and sometimes unexplainable wound racking the abused with incorporeal pain. Untreated the wound will fester and spread, poisoning the blood flow and turning the soul septic... But however deep-seated or seemingly untraceable the underlying injury may be, it must be dealt with or the infection will inevitably lead to ruin. It'll become like an maniacal imp weaving doubt for the simple and sadistic pleasure of torturing the afflicted into insanity. Every thought and word twists into curses and nightmares. The pain will solidify into a labyrinth without end, trapped for a lifetime of unescapable wandering in a maze of misery. Isolation and self neglect will become second nature as the body in dragged deeper into the dark.

A dog that's been kicked will cower. Birds that've been scared will scatter. Cause and effect... Cause and effect... Starvation and death.

He wore a mask like she wore a smile. Facades to conceal their equal suffering, to hide the grief barely below the surface. Erisu understood now that their pain was mutual, their lonesome spirits kindred. Kakashi had stood there in solace and sorrow, loneliness and loss, and she'd recognized herself in the curves and edges of his frame as if he'd been a mirror reflecting back at her.

Erisu set down her pencil and looked at the metallic visage of her sensei etched into parchment. She'd poured all her own misery into the page. Letting it manifest in the form of a graphite sketch, silver and shining like Kakashi's eye.

She rose and drifted across the moonlit room to her window, draped in rippling black curtains, and gazed past the library to the forest beyond. The leaves were a swaying mass of black beneath the velvet sky. He was out there, she knew, slipping away from her as his responsibilities drew him where she couldn't follow. She combed her hair in absent contemplation as a solitary owl swooped past. The comb snapped. Erisu gazed at the splintered object and blinked, her foreboding thoughts confirmed.

 ** _Death was coming._**


	13. Chapter 11: Deployed

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

 ** _Deployed_**

~Erisu~

Erisu sat numbly at the table for a few minutes, gazing blankly at her drawing. The clock was ticking like a metronome in the still silence of the apartment alongside the out of time drip from the leaky sink faucet. The translucent golden liquid in her cup was completely stagnant as she sat in thoughtless calm. There was no happiness, or sorrow, no motivation or ambition, only silence. She wanted to be alone, but didn't want to be lonely... She was drowning in emptiness, her mind blank-

*tap tap tap*

Erisu looked up sharply to see Kakashi on her balcony. She hastily covered her sketch beneath another picture, leapt to her feet, pushing past the searing pain in her leg, and dashed to the across the plush saxony rug. The street below was deserted except for a quiet couple walking side by side. She slid the door open the rest of the way and stepped back as the jōnin stepped inside. He scanned the small room with mild interest.

"So this is you new apartment?" He asked sociably, "it's cozy." He slipped off his sandals politely and folded his arms, body relaxed.

"Good morning O-sama," Erisu dipped her head, "I'm nearly ready, did you want to start earlier today?"

"Hm?" He glanced over as though only just noticing her, "oh no, I just thought I'd stop by and see how you're settling in."

"But 'tis five in the morning...?" Erisu raised her brows curiously.

"Is it?" Kakashi blinked and sought out her wall clock, "so it is." He smiled and scratched his head, "my bad."

Erisu, remembering her manners, hastened to the kitchenette and put on the kettle.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait a moment for tea," she apologized, "would you like some water? I might have some juice..."

"No thank you." His eyes roved around the room, taking in every detail from the complicated diagrams and maps on her walls to her unmade bed, "the truth is I have to cancel our training session today."

Erisu nearly dropped her teacup as she rounded on him. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," he assured her, it's just that Team Seven has been reassembled with myself, Uzamaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura."

Disappointment flickered in Erisu's chest but she forcefully suppressed it, "I see."

"We're getting our first official mission today," he explained, "and I'm sorry to say I'll have less time to spare for our meetings."

Erisu swallowed her growing negative feelings and forced a weak smile. "It must be nice having your team back together, sensei," she commented lightheartedly.

"It is," he agreed, "it's slightly different this time but it is nice regardless."

Silence settled again as they both thought of Sasuke's desertion. Erisu sought vainly for a change of subject while Kakashi resumed his examination of her tiny flat. The silver haired man strolled over to her desk and bent to examine her sketches. Erisu's face flushed and she hurried to intercept him. She grabbed his bicep to pull him away, released him immediately and bowed apologetically. Kakashi seemed not to have noticed, staring intently at a drawing of Tsunade.

"This is remarkable," he said sincerely, gesturing towards the portrait, "you've captured her exact likeness!"

Erisu faltered, "really?"

Kakashi made to pick it up then paused. "May I?" He asked. Erisu nodded and he examined the drawing more closely.

"This is really well done, Erisu," he applauded, "would you show me more of your work?"

"Um-" her breath caught in her throat as he spotted the page that had been beneath the Fifth Hokage.

Kakashi stiffened, gazing unblinkingly at the drawing of himself. He gently put down Tsunade and picked up the other picture.

"You drew me," he murmured softly, his dark eye tracing the careful lines on the paper, "why would you draw me?"

Erisu didn't know how to respond. Of course she'd drawn him, who else could possibly be worth putting on parchment?

Kakashi had gone quite still, holding the drawing carefully in his fingers, eye fastened to the page where he was depicted gazing skyward, forehead bare, Sharingan exposed, in the rain. Inspired by his nightmares and the day she'd spotted him in the cemetery.

"This man looks so lost and despairing," he said quietly, "is that how you see me?"

Erisu couldn't speak, she wanted to snatch the drawing away and wipe his memory. She folded her hands in front of her nervously, and steeled herself for honesty.

"Sometimes... when you think I'm not looking I see your eyes grow distant," she told him slowly, "they become melancholy and morose... You fade from the present into memories that break your heart..."

Kakashi didn't move or speak, his expressionless gaze still on the drawing.

"I don't know you very well or what horrors you've experienced, but that intense despair that consumes you..." She hesitated, "...I can feel it and I see how it weighs on your soul, drowning you in guilt and regret." She lowered her eyes, "still, despite your misery you never fail to fulfil your duties. You're the pride of your village; everyone speaks highly of you. You're kind and cheerful, even humorous."

She swallowed. "Your ability to persevere despite your depression inspires me to do the same." Kakashi looked up at her now, his eye widened in surprise.

"That's why I drew you. She held his gaze steadily. "Your virtue and integrity motivate me to be a better version of myself regardless of what hardships I face. I admire your resolution, O-sama, and respect you above all others."

Kakashi placed the drawing back into her work surface and breathed slowly, his eye averted.

"Thank you." He said, and there was more emotion in those syllables than she'd ever heard in his voice before.

The kettle whistled and Erisu swept to the stove to pour the tea. She turned back to her sensei but he was gone, the black curtains rustling in the wake of his silent departure. Erisu lowered herself onto her bed and closed her eyes, her heart pounding against her ribcage painfully. She'd never been so honest about her emotions before now. She fell back onto the black comforter, embroidered with silver leaves, and stared up at the ceiling in a daze. Kakashi's gentle grey eye floated in her vision like a glare from a cataract; she sighed. How could one person make her feel so deeply?

~Kakashi~

Kakashi could neither shake nor fully grasp what Erisu had said to him. He'd never had someone draw his portrait before and wasn't sure whether he was embarrassed or flattered. Mind still buzzing with Erisu's words, Kakashi continued on to meet with Team Seven.

" _You're late!"_ Naruto said accusatorially as Kakashi strolled up to greet them.

"Well, this time I was delayed by filling out the paperwork from the new team," Kakashi explained, rubbing his head.

"Today we start our first mission as a new team!" Naruto lectured, "be enthusiastic! Kakashi-sensei, you've looked like that for ages!"

"Oh, let it go!" Sakura snapped, "he can't help the fact that he's got a face devoid of enthusiasm!"

Kakashi face slackened as their bickering sapped him of his dignity. A flash of movement caught his eye and he glanced skyward.

The Sand's carrier bird...

As they headed past the library on their way to the Hokage's Office Kakashi instinctively cast his eye towards Erisu's apartment. They were mere yards away, and he glimpsed her through the inky fabric that shrouded her side bay window. Her dainty body like a music box dancer as she glided about in her frilly black gown...

"Oh come on Naruto," Sakura groaned, "stop dawdling!"

Kakashi ignored their bickering as they continued on their way, shooting one last, fleeting look at Erisu's silhouette through the glass. Disappointment twinged briefly in his gut as they headed through the vast doors to be issued their first mission.

" _Ehhh_?" Naruto glowered at the Hokage disdainfully. "That mission? No thanks!"

"Eh?!" Tsunade's eyes flashed. "What kind of a response is that?"

Kakashi eyed Naruto exasperatedly. His egotistical rudeness reflected poorly on him.

" _Naruto_..." Iruka groaned, "you haven't mentally matured at all have you?" Sakura grasped Naruto in a headlock to silence him, hastily apologizing to the Fifth.

"The Third was more sensible," came Naruto's strained voice from Sakura's iron grip.

"What did you say?!" Tsunade started to rise angrily as Kakashi took the mission details from her. Behind them the two teens struggled noisily.

"Fifth!" The door burst open and a woman flew in shouting in distress.

"What's wrong? What's all this racket?" Tsunade demanded, temper rising.

"The Sand's Kazekage was just captured by the Akatsuki!" She cried frantically, "we just got the message!"

The room sparked with tension as everyone rounded on her in alarm.

Tsunade, anger deflated, snatched the paper back from Kakashi. "Right.." He voice was resigned. "Team Kakashi, I'll tell you your new mission." The listened in tense silence. "You are to go immediately to the Sand, find out the situation, and relay it to Konoha. After that follow the orders of the Sand and back them up."

~Erisu~

Without her training with Kakashi to look forward to Erisu felt rudderless. Besides training and studying she didn't have much else to occupy her. She wandered out onto her balcony, now dressed in a black baby doll dress. A messenger bird soared past en route to the Hokage, Erisu's pale blue eyes following its path through the air. A sort of vague emptiness pressed in on her as she observed the mundane morning routines of the civilians below. She leaned against the railing absently as the street became more crowded and the sun rose higher in the sky. Heaving a forlorn sigh and ignoring her ever constant pain, Erisu strapped on her boots and leapt from the balcony. For two heartbeats she was weightless as she fell-free and careless-before she landed in a nimble crouch.

Erisu headed up the busy street towards the library in search of new knowledge, smiling politely and murmuring pleasant greetings to the strangers she passed.

"Hakuchō Erisu?" Came a drawling male voice from behind her as she reached the building.

Erisu faced a handsome man with elbow length, liquorice black hair tied in a low set ponytail to one side. His straight and glossy bangs, parted at the centre, overhung his forehead protector and framed his pale face. One look at the eerie pupiless eyes and she knew he was Hyūga.

"Are you Kakashi-senpai's pupil Hakuchō Erisu?" He asked as he neared her at a jog.

Fear gripped her. "Is Kakashi-sensei okay?" She asked instinctively.

"Team Kakashi has been sent to the Land of Wind to aid the Village Hidden in the Sand," the ninja explained rapidly in a rather cold voice, "it seems the village was attacked by the Akatsuki."

Her suspicions were realized.

"The Kazekage has been kidnapped and several Suna-nin were murdered," he continued, "more teams are being mobilized as we speak."

Horror engulfed her and she leaned against the wall for support.

"And Gaara-sama?" She prompted, "is he okay?"

"His condition is currently unknown," the Hyūga man replied, "the Sand sent a level one deployment request for aid with their fastest carrier bird."

Erisu closed her eyes in attempt to remain calm. The Kazekage, Gaara, was an immensely powerful Jinchūriki with complete control over the sand. He was apparently able to create deserts and then bend them to his will. His mastery of the one tailed sand spirit, Shukaku, sealed inside him gave him tremendous chakra and he was known for his nearly impenetrable sand shield and armour. She'd seen him battle with Sasuke during the Chūnin exams and even though he'd only been twelve years old at the time he had demonstrated his astonishing chakra, savage sand attacks, and a bloodthirsty wrath that was terrifying to behold.

If the Akatsuki had been able to defeat and capture him right from the heart of the Village whilst surrounded by hundreds of shinobi...

"When did Team Kakashi leave?" she asked urgently.

"An hour and a half ago," he said matter-of-factly.

Erisu swallowed hard and stared at the western horizon. _Kakashi_...

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked hopefully.

"Not that I'm aware of," he replied, "but all shinobi are to be on red alert for signs of Akatsuki. You know how to identify them?"

She nodded shortly, "black cloaks with red clouds."

What were they plotting going after the Kazekage? They must have targeted him because of Shukaku, but what did they want with the Tailed Beasts?

"Did Jiraiya-sama accompany them?" She asked hopefully.

"No. The team consists of Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, and Uzamaki Naruto."

Erisu dwelled on this information in worried silence, it wasn't even a complete squad.

"I should mention," the man said, trying to regain her attention, "before they departed, Kakashi-senpei requested I take over your training in his absence."

She looked up in surprise, taking him in for the first time.

"I'm Hyūga Yuma," he gave a shallow bow, with a slightly arrogant smirk, "I'm pleased to meet you."

"And I you," she replied, returning the bow.

Her leg throbbed painfully and she leaned against the wall again to maintain her balance, careful to shift her weight solely onto her right leg to alleviate some of the pressure.

"Meet me at the playground nearest the Naka River at noon tomorrow for our first lesson," he told her rather bossily, then he flashed what he probably thought was a charming grin and saluted her, "see you then, Erisu-chan."

"Erm okay," she smiled weakly and Yuma departed in one bound.

Rushing back into her apartment, she paced in rapidly increasing distress. Kakashi was the Copy Ninja of the Leaf, son of The White Fang, she assured herself, he would be fine.

But still, she stared hopelessly through the open window towards the arid deserts out of sight, this was the _Akatsuki_.

Erisu slept restlessly that night, plagued by dreams of her childhood home, distorted and darkened. That leering shadowy face with ice blue eyes...

She sat up abruptly, causing Ookami to fluff up in alarm. Sunlight peeked through the shrouded window where Aiko groomed herself. Erisu sighed in relief. She was an adult, far from that wretched place, and he couldn't find her. Still trembling from her nightmare, she took her medicine with an unsteady hand and then spread the curtains wide.

Konoha was despicably peaceful while Sunagakure was scrambling in chaos. It would still be two days before Team Kakashi reached the village to send word and Erisu wondered if her nerves would last that long. The new alliance between the villages had been highly beneficial for both parties, she dreaded to think what would happen if the Kazekage was lost. From what she'd gathered Gaara had lost control of his demon during the Konoha Crush two years ago and had been completely possessed by Shukaku. But Naruto had somehow defeated the Ichibi and reawakened Gaara. The two boys, both Jinchūriki shunned by their homes, had understood each other. Erisu heard people say that Naruto had reached Gaara on a deeper level and changed the self absorbed and murderous youth. Gaara had gone on to become the youngest Kazekage in history and had earned the trust and admiration of all of Sunagakure.

If this was true, Erisu thought, then Naruto must be in turmoil right now. She wondered what it would be like to want to protect someone so desperately...

Her alarm sounded and Erisu prepared for her first session with Hyūga Yuma.


	14. Chapter 12: Team Yuma

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

 ** _Team Yuma_**

~Erisu~

There were a few aspects to Erisu's first meeting with Hyūga Yuma that marked it in her memory, and not necessarily in a good way. The first thing she realized when he strutted across the deserted playground and gave her his most supercilious smile was that training was not what he had in mind. She knew this not only by the fact that they'd met at an old park in a residential area, but also because he wasn't alone.

He was accompanied by three other people all of whom, save one, wore an irritated expression that displayed they'd rather be anywhere else. Dark haired and carrying herself like a queen with a face of contemptuous thunder, was Akiba Kiyomi, flanking her was the burly shape of Hiroki and a wiry, mousy haired man with a frightfully disfigured face. Kiyomi shook her mane of pin straight hair like a supermodel and winked at Erisu as the four ninja came to a stop before her. Battle scarred and armed to the teeth, they were an impressive and lethal looking team as Erisu rose, emerging from the shade of an umbrellaed picnic table, and bowed.

"Hakuchō Erisu, let me introduce Team Yuma," said the pale eyed captain as he made a sweeping gesture towards the three shinobi beside him.

"Akiba Kiyomi, Himura Hiroki, and," he motioned towards the man with the face that resembled melted rubber, "Kobayashi Sota."

Erisu bowed again, consciously looking anywhere but Sota's scarred face.

"Not very pretty is it?" His voice was uncharacteristically cheerful. "Third World War. Some sort of acid style attack." He grinned crookedly. "Still, it makes you think twice before attacking me, right?"

Erisu smiled timidly.

"Right." Yuma clapped his hands for attention. "Kakashi-senpai wants to put you through the paces and give you some practical experience! So you'll be joining us on our standard patrol route around the village. Generally patrol work is only ranked as C or B class but with the Akutsuki's attack on Sunagakure we're to treat this as an A-Rank. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright, everyone ready?" He glared around at his teammates as if daring them to say no. "Good, let's move out!" Yuma launched himself onto the roof of the disused schoolhouse and the team followed in a synchronized bound. Erisu, wide eyed, leapt after them.

The team moved at break-neck speed across the rooftops, making no allowances for Erisu's lower level. She raced after them, half expecting her leg to buckle from the pressure, but determined to keep up. They cleared the pockmarked wall of the village and soared into the canopy beyond.

Landing clumsily in the branches, Erisu barely had time to regain her balance before Team Yuma was propelling themselves through the trees. Erisu fired chakra into her soles, boosting herself after them in an anxious frenzy to prove herself.

"Yo, Erisu-san." Sota dropped from above to charge alongside her. "Yuma didn't give us much info on you. All he said was Reiketsu-Kakashi's taken a liking to you." His right eye socket drooped from the weight of his burn giving him a perpetually cockeyed appearance. "Trust me when I say he's gonna give you a hard time," he told her with a meaningful look, "wants to undermine Kakashi-san."

"Who? Yuma-Taichou?" She specified wonderingly.

"That's right." He ducked under a branch, swerving away slightly. "Bad blood there."

Erisu kicked hard off a branch, sending a shower of leaves to the forest floor. "But then-"

"Don't worry about it, Kiyomi and I've got your back."

"Trying to get yourself a lackey, Sota?" Hiroki had appeared on Erisu's other side.

"Why? Are you volunteering?" Sota smirked. Hiroki didn't reply, dashing on ahead. Erisu felt like a complete outsider dropped into a complicated social construct that she had no part in.

"Descend!" Barked Yuma, and the team dove into the undergrowth as one.

Erisu followed Sota into a clearing where Yuma was talking with Hiroki in a low voice. Kiyomi had pulled up her undershirt to mask her face like Kakashi. Her eyes danced playfully as Erisu stepped into the emerald light that trickled from the leaves.

"Sup, Taichou?" Sota asked as he and Erisu came to a halt beside them.

"Chakra trails," Yuma said indifferently. "I don't recognize the signatures so I'm checking the other teams' routes to see if they confirm with the tracks." He held a map of Konoha and the surrounding area, crisscrossed with colour coded patrol routes.

"'Chakra trails'?" Erisu regarded him curiously. "Do you mean to say that your Byakugan picks up on residual traces of chakra even after the individual has moved on?"

Yuma scanned her, brows creased. "Yeah." He raised his chin importantly. "My vision is one of the most advanced in my clan."

"How brilliant!" Erisu clapped her hands together happily. "I'm a sensory Dōjutsu type myself."

"Yeah." Yuma scanned the routes distractedly. "I read your file."

"I read Kiyomi-kun's file, yeah," Hiroki piped up. "Turns out she's forty-eight."

"Yes and you're twelve." Kiyomi snapped.

"Ah bless them," Sota said affectionately, "I expect they'll be announcing the engagement any day now."

"Right, you lot," Yuma began imperiously. "Looks like we've found an unauthorized team in the area. If I'm correct, and I usually am, they passed by here eastbound about thirty minutes ago."

Kiyomi adjusted her kodachis which were strapped across her tailbone. Hiroki rolled his massive shoulders while Sota smiled placidly, dark eyes twinkling.

"I'll lead, Kiyomi stay behind me to the left, Sota on my right, Hiroki bring up the rear. Erisu-chan you stay in the centre and do your sympathy thing."

"Empathy," she corrected quietly.

"I'm stronger than Kiyomi-kun, yeah!" Hiroki said hotly, "why do I get the rear?"

"Cause you're an ass," Kiyomi told him. He cracked his neck aggressively.

"Shut up!" Yuma flipped his glossy ponytail over his shoulder. "Get in your positions, now move out!"

The team embarked, running up the trees and setting off through the branches. Erisu's eyes shuddered from silvery blue to pearly pink. Her pupils contracted as she broadened her mind, letting herself feel the forest and everyone around. Her teammates caused aberrations of emotional interference so she tuned them out and reached beyond.

Yuma cursed loudly and slowed his pace, veins pulsing in his temples.

"Lost the trail?" Kiyomi asked.

"Yeah," Yuma hissed, "vanished. They must know we're tailing them. Well, let's do it the mundane way then. Look for physical tracks."

They combed slowly through the treetops in search of their quarry for sometime before Erisu noticed it. _Murder._

"Taichou-sama!" She called, too concerned to realize she overdid the honourifics.

Yuma raised his hand and the team stopped, perched in the branches like oversized birds. He fixed her with an expectant stare.

"Four individuals ahead, 3 o'clock, three men one woman," she told him quickly, rosy eyes fixed far ahead. "Imposters. I believe they just committed murder." She paused, straining to understand them further. "They're... Waiting for someone."

"What are you talking about?" Yuma swivelled around to follow her gaze, veins bulging with concentration. "I don't see anything."

"They're only a hundred metres away," Erisu said imploringly, eyes still fixed in the direction of their emotions. She was certain someone had just died.

"I have a near 360º field of vision and a thirty kilometre radius," he said pretentiously, "I'd know if there was someone there!"

Erisu turned on him in exasperation, whites reddening from the intensity of her stare. "Could they be suppressing their chakra somehow?" She wondered aloud as her mind raced. "After all... Konoha's Hyūga are know far and wide. Any one hoping to infiltrate would need to bypass the extensive number of sensory type shinobi that patrol the walls..."

Yuma glowered at her for a moment. "Alright, Erisu-chan," he said coldly, "if you're so sure lets switch places."

Erisu hesitated. She knew he was trying to get her to make a fool of herself but people were dead. She didn't have a choice.

"Yes sir," she hopped onto his branch, brushing past him, and leapt into the next tree. "Ready when you are, Taichou."

Erisu let her intuition guide her as she silently lead the team through the dense canopy. She stopped short, motioning for them to do the same, and pointed below with her eyes. Four shapes were moving in the shadows of a sandy hollow. Erisu detected Yuma's annoyance behind her and resisted a smile of satisfaction.

Keeping her eyes on the hollow, she noticed, to her dismay, that the sand was wet with fresh blood. Three corpses were slumped against a tree, Konoha forehead protectors gleaming dimly in the low light. One body had been dismembered, limbs skate red around it...

"They're wearing some sort of concealment seals," Yuma whispered.

"Looks like Reiketsu-Kakashi was right about her, eh Taichou?" Sota said smugly. Yuma cast him a withering look.

"What did he say about me?" Erisu asked before she could stop herself.

"His reports have been nothing but praise," Sota told her with a lopsided grin, "seems to think very highly of you." Erisu's chest constricted and she forced her attention back to the situation at hand.

"What's the plan?" Hiroki asked the captain.

"We attack from above," Yuma decided. "Kill if you must but I want at least one of them for interrogation. There won't be one left over to tell the tale."

Erisu bit her lip. _Kill?_

"Spread out, stay hidden, on my signal." He looked at each of them in turn. "Right, disperse."

The reality of the situation dawned on her as Erisu got into position. She was going to actually engage in combat and possible have to take another human life... She caught sight of Yuma in the foliage opposite her and swallowed her fear.

He flicked his hand. "Now!"


	15. Chapter 13: Finding Purpose

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

 ** _Finding Purpose_**

~Erisu~

The frenzy of battle was barely more than a bur of adrenaline and panic. Erisu, trapped in the thick of it, dodged through the chaos. She rolled between the legs of a masked opponent and fastened a paper bomb into his back before leaping away. A flash of fire and smoke exploded as she detonated it with a twist of her fingers. Dashing backwards up a tree trunk, Erisu secured her feet to the bark and, suspended horizontally over the fray, sent a shower of poisonous needles cascading down. Controlling them with wire, she whipped them at a man engaged with Sota.

His eyes askew and wide mischievous mouth twisted into a malicious grin, Sota bludgeoned his enemy with a wall of earth as the needles connected. Yuma was a mere blur of fists as he spun like a top in the signature style of the Hyūga. Flames ripped across the clearing, melting the sand, as Kiyomi breathed a ball of fire, igniting her enemy. She twisted and twirled like an exotic dancer as she cleaved flesh from bone with flaming kodachis.

Erisu launched a barrage of shuriken into the throng of battling shinobi. They sunk into flesh with satisfying thunks. Her fear morphing into excitement, she flipped off the tree and conjured a pair of shadow clones. The three girls landed and dashed into the action. Then, as he swung round a massive, curved ōdachi blade, Hiroki changed direction mid swing and brought the sword down on Yuma.

" _Taichou!"_ Erisu shrieked and dashed to intersect the blade.

Blood spurted, hot and thick, into her mouth and she spluttered, shocked. The blade had cut cleanly through Erisu's clavicle and sunk into Yuma's back behind her. Vision red, Erisu didn't fully register as Kiyomi ran Hiroki through with her smouldering sword. The stink of blood and searing flesh clogged her sinuses and Erisu choked for air. Sota was standing over a mangled body that'd been crushed beneath a mound of rock, his black eyes round in horror.

"Erisu!" Kiyomi's beautiful face swam into focus. "Hey, love, can you hear me?"

Erisu pushed her away. She was a medic; only one thing mattered right now and that was Yuma. She carefully tugged the sword out of them, clamping her glowing hand immediately over the gaping hole in his flak jacket. Erisu eased him onto his side on the forest floor, ignoring the hysterical rabble of Kiyomi and Sota, as she made sure her captain's head was below his heart. She shouldered out of her kimono and quickly transferred it to the wound applying pressure and chakra.

His mouth was gaped, eyes glazed and white, but she could still feel him-his fear. He was growing pale and clammy, breathing rapidly. She checked his pulse. He was going into shock.

"Kiyomi!" Erisu shouted, "elevate his legs! Sota, something to cover him-a blanket, coat- _anything!"_

Kiyomi dropped to her knees and raised Yuma's feet into the crook of her arm. Sota draped the cloak of one of the dead imposters over their captain.

"Good," she struggled to keep her voice steady, "now put your hands over mine. Yes, like that. When I remove my hands apply pressure. A lot of pressure, okay?"

She slipped her hands free and Sota pressed hard on Yuma's back. She quickly formed the hand seals Kakashi had taught her and a fresh clone appeared, the others having burst when she'd been hit. They made eye contact and her doppelgänger raced away at top speed for help.

Erisu cupped Yuma's cold face in her palm, placing her other hand next to Sota's to resume medical ninjutsu.

"Hey, Taichou," she murmured gently and his pale eyes focused on her, "how're you feeling? Are you warm enough?" It was imperative that she calmed him down before the shock took hold of him.

"H-Hiroki..." He coughed.

"Don't worry about that now, Taichou," she said reassuringly, "just relax okay... Hey now, stay with me..!"

His eyelids drooped with exhaustion as his brain lost the ability to respond. She increased her flow into him, swallowing her mounting anguish.

"Yuma-senpai," she turned his face back to hers, "hey, tell me about your clan eh? Tell me about your amazing eyesight."

He blinked heavily and Erisu felt some of the warmth coming back to him. She wasn't aware of Kiyomi and Sora watching her raptly.

"Hintata-hime has grown so much," he told her groggily, "she's so strong... She'll lead the clan well."

Erisu looked up sharply as her clone dispersed and all its experiences were transferred back to her.

"My clone made contact with another patrol and they're on their way," she told the others, idly caressing Yuma's face to calm him. Kiyomi was looking at Erisu intently, eyes fierce and blazing.

"Well done," she said with grim sincerity.

"Yeah," Sota nodded, blood pooling in the wrinkles of his burns. "Well done indeed."

"Erisu-chan," Kiyomi ducked into Erisu's hospital room where she'd been held over night to monitor the laceration in her shoulder. "Sorry for the disturbance..." The dark haired woman had a box of chocolates, beautifully adorned in ribbon and was wearing a strained smile.

"You're visiting me." Erisu stared at the woman blankly. She'd spent much of the past couple years in a hospital bed but she'd never had a visitor before.

"Me too," Sota hustled in after her carrying a large fruit basket. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine." She answered honestly as they sat down on the empty bed beside her. "I'm to be discharged in a couple hours, just waiting for the last of the lab work to come back. How's Yuma-senpai?"

"He's fine too," Sota answered as he set his gift on the bedside table, "a couple severed muscles and whatnot so he won't be doing any serious missions for a while, but other than that he's doing good."

"We're dropping in on him again when we're done here," Kiyomi said quietly.

"So..." Erisu looked at them both uncertainly. "...Hiruma-senpai?"

"Dead," Kiyomi was blunt. "I killed him. I really shouldn't have. The Fifth's pissed."

"Yeah..." Sota said to his sandals. "An inter-village betrayal during the Akatsuki threat... Not cool."

Kiyomi scoffed. "That's an understatement."

"And the other team? The infiltrators?" Erisu wanted information now, furious that she'd brushed Hiroki off as insolent and irritable instead of realizing his emotions were more sinister. Her naïvety had cost lives.

"All dead," Kiyomi sighed.

"I had one of them incapacitated for Torture but then Hiroki..." Sota's expression was bleak. "Anyway the bastard took a pill during the confusion and snuffed it."

"So then..?"

"We don't know." Kiyomi tossed Erisu the pack of chocolates. "Anbu searched Hiroki's apartment but couldn't find anything incriminating. The spies, or whatever they were, had nothing to identify them, and their faces weren't in any Bingo Books." She tipped her head back and groaned loudly. "I knew he was a douche but I didn't think he was a traitor!" She collapsed onto the bed, still groaning.

Sota plucked a peach from the fruit basket and bit into it with a noisy squish. "Cheer up Kiyomi," he said, prodding her in the side with a finger, "no one's seriously hurt." He chewed thoughtfully. "...except Hiroki of course. But he _was_ a douche _and_ a traitor so it's not a total loss."

Kiyomi groaned louder.

Erisu busied herself with the shimmery pink ribbon as she opened the chocolates.

" _Aaaand_..." Sota caught Erisu's eye and grinned. "Erisu-san got plenty of practical experience. Her hero's bound to be happy about that eh?"

Erisu froze with a chocolate half way to her mouth. Kiyomi snapped upright, eyes bright.

"Oh yes! 'Mister Admirable Hero!' Her and Sota exchanged sly smiles. "How's that going for you Erisu-chan?"

The room had become swelteringly hot and Erisu popped the chocolate into her mouth, eyes round.

"Who?"

Kiyomi cackled. "Keep your secrets then," she mused, "but now you and Kakashi share a name."

"What do you mean?"

"First thing Yuma asked when he woke up-" said Sota.

"'Where's my hero'?" Imitated Kiyomi.

"I think you've got an admirer."

"Love triangle?" wondered Kiyomi.

"I hope so," sniggered Sota.

Erisu dropped her eyes back to her chocolates, examining the drizzle patterns in fascination. There was a knock at the door and the three of them jumped.

"Hakuchō-san?" A nurse peeked in. "You have another visitor."

Astounded, Erisu imagined who it could be when Harumi poked her head in. Her thick brown hair swishing around her shoulders like a waterfall of hot cocoa.

"Harumi-chan!" Erisu exclaimed in delight as her friend scooted in with a small bushel of cut flowers.

"Do your cats normally act like this?" She asked as she entered with Ookami and Aiko in hot pursuit. "I went by your place but your landlady said you were in the hospital and these two," she pointed at the cats, looking harassed, "followed me! Kept yowling and stuff!"

Upon seeing their human, the two cats bounded across the room to the bed where the assaulted her in affection. Ookami stuck his battered white muzzle into the chocolate box and Erisu shooed him out of it. Harumi sidled into the room, glancing nervously at the two seasoned shinobi.

"Oh sorry! Harumi-chan this is Akiba Kiyomi and Kobayashi Sota." She waved at Harumi with a fond smile and added, "Kita Harumi." They all murmured greetings and Harumi settled herself on the foot of Erisu's bed.

"Y'know, I think this is the most girls I've been with in a bedroom before," Sota commented with a broad grin. Kiyomi punched him in the shoulder making him yelp.

Once one got past the unsightly scars, it was clear that Sota had been very good looking. The right side of his face, which was almost normal, displayed high cheekbones, a narrow jaw, and twinkling black eyes that simply glowed with humour and optimism. His mousy hair stuck out from his black, bandana style ninja headband and the gleam of a dog tag neclace was visible when he moved. Beside him Kiyomi was all sharp edges with her black hair swishing around her like a cape. Where Kiyomi was sharp Harumi was soft, roundness that contrasted with the other woman's angles, and with the sweetest smile imaginable. Erisu felt a surge of affection towards them as she smiled around at the first company she'd ever had while hospitalized.

 _Three visitors_... Erisu smiled to herself with a mouth full of succulent chocolate. It seemed surreal to her, having friends.

The following day Yuma sent word for Erisu to meet him for training. They discussed her strengths and weaknesses as Yuma, his left arm in a sling do to the disconnection of his shoulder muscles, decided what taijutsu style best suited Erisu. He was still arrogant and impatient but he'd warmed up considerably after the incident with Hiroki. After a lengthy interrogation Yuma seemed to finally be satisfied.

"Alright," he said at last, "aggressive, strength dependant styles won't work for you so let's focus on something more defensive. Since you're so small let's put more emphases on avoidance and diversion techniques, focusing less on the physical aspects of combat and more on predicting it.

"I'll teach you how to effectively evade and redirect your opponents attacks, how to use their own momentum against them in a series of throws, and how to capture them in a variety of holds," he grinned, "I'm going to teach you Aikido."

They trained rigorously over the following days and Erisu's body screamed in the aftermath of her lessons. On top of the hours spent sparring with Yuma, Erisu crammed in as many D-rank missions as she could for yen. At the end of the day she'd fall into bed without the energy to even read a couple volumes on chemistry or economics. Sometimes she thought she'd collapse from the pain but she soldiered on, determined to have plenty of new tricks when Kakashi returned.

In comparison to Kakashi's quiet intellectualism, Yuma was a downright brute. He had no respect for the respectable pastime of reading and study, preferring to face things head on and fight before diplomacy. He criticized her constantly, and not always constructively, nearly impossible to please. On temporary leave while he regained his strength and his team on hold while the request for Hiroki's replacement was pending, Yuma dedicated all his time to training Erisu, which was certainly more than Kakashi ever did. But it was during the long hours in the training ground with Yuma that Erisu missed Kakashi most. Although Sota and Kiyomi would frequently pop up to take her out for drinks or debate the current situation in the Sand, Erisu felt somehow incomplete without the soft spoken and reassuring presence of her sensei. It was the longest week of her life.


	16. Chapter 14: Sensei-Sempai-O-sama?

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

 ** _Sensei-Sempai-O-sama?_**

~Erisu~

 _He was back!_ Erisu raced down the centre of a long slanted roof, feet pounding on the hard surface. She bounded onto a chimneystack and launched herself across an alleyway. Airborne, Erisu's heart swelled with euphoria. She was going to see him again! Landing in a run, she pelted over the orange shingles and across a taut clothesline.

She flung herself carelessly into the street, rolled onto her feet, and charged up the path to the hospital. Flinging the doors wide, Erisu skidded to a halt on the linoleum.

"I'm here to visit Hatake Kakashi!" She gasped to the receptionist.

She rapped on the door with barely contained excitement and heard the delightfully familiar voice invite her in.

"Senpai-sensei-sir," she stammered as she slipped in and slid the door shut behind her.

"Erisu-chan," Kakashi's voice would've been warm, affectionate even, if not for the horrible tremor and rasp of pain.

Erisu's joy evaporated as she took in her sensei's condition. Wearing his dark, sleeveless undershirt that attached seamlessly to his mask, Kakashi's pale toned arms were plainly visible. Burnt, bruised, and covered in abrasions, he looked as if he'd just fought in a war. Silver hair in his face and his eyes pouchy with exhaustion, he gazed over at her and tried to sit up. He trembled weakly and slumped back onto his pillows. Wires and intravenous sustenance extended from his needle pierced arms like puppet strings. He closed his eyes, breathing shakily, and Erisu realized he was in severe pain.

"O-sama..." She drifted over to him, fingers to her lips in concern, as she surveyed his damaged body. "What..? How..? _Oh Kakashi!_ " She flung herself into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugged him desperately. He grunted in surprise and the monitor warned of accelerated heart rate.

Erisu quickly withdrew but he caught her by the small of the back and pulled her back against him. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as his shaky arms enveloped her. Her throat tightened as she realized how much danger he'd been in...

"Erisu-chan," he murmured in her ear, "I'm okay, really I am." She sat up, blinking rapidly and averted her gaze. If she'd lost him...

"What happened?" She asked the floor. "Who did this to you?"

"Well, I guess _I_ did," he said, sounding embarrassed. Befuddled, Erisu gave him her undivided attention.

Kakashi told her everything that's standpipes since he'd left, describing his mission, the capture of the Kazekage, the poisoning of Kankurou, tracking down the Alatsuki members Deidara and the puppet master Sasori.

"Sasori of the Red Sand?" Erisu asked in hushed horror.

"The very same," Kakashi said gravely, going on to tell her of Gaara's death and Naruro's pursuit of the body. Kakashi lamented that he'd had no choice but to leave Sakura and Lady Chiyo behind with Sasori and follow Naruto. He hesitated then, and she knew he was considering whether or not to withhold information.

"...Deidara swallowed his explosive clay in a last attempt to finish us and I was forced to use my Mangekyō Sharingan to warp him to another dimension..." Kakashi sighed wearily and fell back onto the bed.

Erisu grasped his hand instinctively. "Don't push yourself, sensei!" She fretted, "you can tell me later."

"I want you to know now," Kakashi coughed, entwining his fingers in hers. "Lady Chiyo used a jutsu of her own design to resurrect Gaara-sama in exchange for her own life."

Erisu stared at him in astonishment.

"We took Gaara-sama back to the village... although," his eye curved into a smile, "most of the village came out to meet him halfway."

There was a sudden scratching that made them both jump. They looked over at the window to see the scowling face of a battle worn tuxedo cat.

"Is that..?"

"Ookami-sama," Erisu sighed, "I promised him tuna."

"How did he get up here?"

She shrugged. "Tuna's a good motivator I suppose."

Ookami squeezed under the partially open window and stalked haughtily across the hospital room, tail flicking to convey his annoyance with Erisu. He bounded onto the bed and fixed his kiwi green eyes on Kakashi. They stared at each other for a moment, then Ookami blinked slowly (the feline equivalent of a bow) and curled up at Kakashi's feet purring like a faulty engine.

"Well..." Kakashi looked back at Erisu, slightly confused, "...we headed back to Konoha almost immediately. After paying our respects to Lady Chiyo, of course."

"And how'd you get in this state?" she asked, as if her cat hadn't just hunted her down for fish.

"Well..." He stroked her hand idly with his thumb. "...I used the Mangekyō too many times. Since I'm not an Uchiha my body can't handle prolonged use. It drains me of chakra incredibly fast. With my stamina depleted and my chakra stores drained my body couldn't properly heal the damage from my fight with Deidara." He jerked his head at his burns. "So I'm going to be laid up for a while."

"Well I'll visit you everyday!" She told him, "..i-if you want me to, that is."

His eye crinkled into a smile. "I want you to."

Erisu looked down at their hands, woven together on the blanket and her eyes swam with barely suppressed tears. Kakashi was safe but things would change now... It was clear what'd happened to Gaara, why he'd been killed. She slipped her fingers out of his and crossed to the window. Outside the sun was shining in a clear sky of forget-me-not blue. The calm before the storm.

"Did they take Shukaku?" She asked.

"Yes," Kakashi said heavily, "they've figured out how to extract the tailed beasts."

"They'll be coming for Uzamaki-san then." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," he said again.

She nodded, eyes fixed on the crashing sea of leaves in the forest beyond. It was one nightmare after another for Naruto.

"Those Jinchūriki..." Clouds rolled across the clear void of space as they endlessly encircled the planet. "...made weapons without their consent, shunned by the villagers they were created to protect... Uzamaki-san was orphaned and friendless, and Gaara-sama, even though most of his family still lived, was equally alone.

"To be isolated and feared only makes one lonely and afraid themselves. How bitter and angry they must have been, how broken and lost?" Her eyes misted over as she understood what drove them. "And yet, what do they want above all else? To be Kages. To defend and protect their people. They didn't succumb to their demons; they escaped the dark and chose to help others do the same.

"Gaara-sama, being welcomed home by his village, having earned their faith and recognition... What a day that must've been for him!" She looked back at Kakashi, eyes shining with optimism. "And that day will come for Uzamaki-san too, don't you think, O-sama?"

Kakashi was looking at her as if seeing her for the first time. There was an intensity in his gaze that bordered on reverence. His expression stole her breath away as their eyes met.

"Hatake-san." The door slid open and their connection broke. A nurse peeked in. "The Hokage, Jiraiya-sama and another shinobi are here to see you."

Erisu stiffened in alarm; two Sannin were two too many.

"Thank you, just give me a moment please." The door closed.

"I'll just.." She looked around frantically as footsteps sounded in the hall. "I'll go out the window." She decided. Ookami leapt down from the bed, ready to follow.

"Risu..." She looked over at him, leg propped on the windowsill, startled by the shortening of her name. "What are you doing?"

"Fleeing," she said blankly, "hence the window."

"Well before you flee out the window there's something I need to say." His eyes held hers unwaveringly.

"Yes?"

"Thank you," he said candidly.

"F-for what?"

"For everything." His voice was firm and verbatim.

The door handle rattled and Erisu yelped in panic. "I'll see you, sensei!" And she jumped out the second storey window without waiting for a reply.

 _~E. A. Swan here~_

 _I'm looking for a Beta Reader, PM me if you're interested_


	17. Chapter 15: Contemplations

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

 ** _Contemplations_**

~Kakashi~

 _A lead in finding Sasuke..._ Kakashi stared at the stark white ceiling of the hospital room. Tēnzo should be able to keep Naruto in check, but still... _I should be there._

He rolled over and stared gloomily out the window. It was a miserable day but at least he wasn't alone... Ookami was curled next to him, purring raggedly. Kakashi scratched the surprisingly affectionate tomcat behind his tattered ears, making him stretch his large white paws and huff happily. Kakashi reached out for a volume of Icha-Icha that Jiraiya had left but stopped short from a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called, straightening against his pillows.

The door slid open and in strode Hyūga Yuma, his face like a porcelain mask of conceit. He scanned the room critically and cast a dubious white eye on Oomami before shutting the door behind him.

"Yuma-san," Kakashi said curtly.

"Morning senpai," Yuma drawled as he invited himself to sit on the bed opposite, "sorry for the disturbance."

"Not at all, what can I do for you?"

Ookami narrowed his brilliant green eyes and sniffed disdainfully.

"I wouldn't be bothering you at all, only the Fifth said it was your decision so I thought I should look in to see if you've made up your mind." His lip curled slightly as he spoke.

"What's my decision?"

"Surely Tsunade mentioned it?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Tsunade- _sama_ mentions lots of things," Kakashi said coldly, "what do you want Yuma?"

"I want Erisu-chan," he said bluntly.

Kakashi had a sudden urge to throttle him but spoke normally, "you want what?"

"You probably heard that your old classmate Hiroki turned traitor and tried to kill me," he said airily, "well Erisu-chan showed great initiative when she tried to give her life for me so I want her on my team."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Erisu is a very selfless individual and would save any Konoha-nin if they were in danger."

"Yes. Well. I don't really care for medical ninjutsu and've been wanting someone to take on the post as team medic for a while now. And since Erisu-chan and I have bonded so much while you were away..." His white eyes glowed with challenge. "So, do I have your blessing? Can I have her?"

Kakashi gritted his teeth, eye fixed on Yuma with scorching grey fire. "Have you discussed this with Erisu?"

"She doesn't really have any say in it does she?" Yuma flicked a speck of dirt off his vest. "It's up to her superiors to decide where she's placed."

"Well, I don't think she's quite ready for assignment to a team. She only just made genin after all."

" _Psh_. That's irrelevant. My team's made up of two jōnin and a Chūnin, we can pick up her slack easily."

Ookami yawned noisily, exposing broken fangs. Yuma eyed him derisively then continued, "the point is I want her. I went to Tsunade first, obviously, but she said that you've taken a 'special interest' in Erisu-chan and that what happens to her is up to you." He said this rather disgustedly. "Ridiculous if you ask me. A Hokage shouldn't let others overrule her or undermine her authority. But then..." he narrowed his cold milky eyes. "You've always been special. Rules don't apply to Minato's last surviving student, do they?"

Their eyes could've set fire to the room with the amount of malice they exchanged.

"Minato- _sama_ never gave me any liberties, Yuma," Kakashi said icily, "and I think we were discussing Erisu, weren't we?"

"Yeah." Yuma stood and glowered down at Kakashi. "I'll give you two weeks to decide."

"Fine by me."

"I'm off to teach Erisu-chan how to escape the holds of a dominant grappler." He smirked as Kakashi clenched his jaw. "...well enjoy your bed rest. I'm sure you're still _really_ worn out from that little skirmish." His smile widened as Kakashi started to sit up. "Careful, don't want to reopen your wounds." He opened the door and glanced over his shoulder, eyes slits of sadistic pleasure. "I'll say hi to Erisu for you, yeah?" And he was gone.

Kakashi slumped back onto his pillows, fuming as he imagined Yuma pinning Erisu to the ground... He cursed savagely, causing Ookami to glare at him judgementally. Kakashi couldn't bear the idea of Yuma putting his hands all over Erisu. He'd only chosen Yuma to oversee her training while he was away because all the other jōnin rank Hyūgas had been busy at the time. But the egotistical aristocrat wasn't supposed to have continued tutoring her this long. He scowled at the far wall in silent rage for a while, wishing he could be in the training hollow with Erisu instead.

*knock, knock, knock*

"Come in," Kakashi called irritably. A couple hours had passed since his visit from Yuma but Kakashi was still stewing.

"O-sama!" Erisu appeared carrying a bushel of white egret flowers. She floated across the room and displayed the flowers on his bedside next to his books. "How're you feeling?"

His anger melted away as she kicked off her shoes and settled on the end of his bed cross legged.

"Much better," he said softly.

"I um..." Her eyes darted, cheeks rosy. "I made you a card." She handed it to him hastily and dropped her eyes while he examined it.

The cover was tastefully adorned with his name in a shimmery silver ink and an elegant border of forget-me-nots and white swallowtail butterflies was like embroidery around the edges. He opened it and saw an adorable, and very accurate, drawing of Pakkun wearing a nurse's cap with a butterfly on his nose. On the opposite page was a haiku written in beautiful kanji script:

 _After the storm fades_

 _Butterflies appear again_

 _To dance through flowers_

 _(Pakkun-san and I send our love and wish you a speedy recovery!)_

 _~love, Erisu_

Kakashi lowered the card and saw that Erisu's face had turned a startling shade of bubblegum pink. He wanted to express his gratitude but was suddenly unable to speak.

"I ran into Pakkun-san on the way to training this morning," she explained, face still averted, "he wanted me to tell you that him and the pack miss you."

"Thank you, Erisu," he said with difficulty, "I... Really appreciate this." She murmured 'you're welcome' to her feet. He set the card next to the basket of cut flowers and took a moment to admire the frilly white petals. They looked like tiny white herons taking flight.

"They mean 'my thoughts will follow you into your dreams'," she said quietly, "thoughts of recovery and so forth..."

He smiled, warmth spreading through his chest to his fingertips. He thought of how differently she reacted to him being hospitalized than Naruto and chuckled. Then the unpleasant image of Yuma wrestling Erisu forced its way back into his thoughts and his hands made an involuntary fist.

"How was training?" He asked.

"It was..." Her brows knitted slightly. "...educational."

"Do you get along well with Yuma-san?"

"Well enough," she answered doggedly, "he's been friendlier since I healed him."

"Too friendly?"

She looked up, surprised and relieved. "Yes, actually. But nothing I can't handle."

"Well let me know if he gets out of line," Kakashi said with a surge of protectiveness, "I'll set him straight."

"I-I appreciate that." She struggled for a moment as if about to expound on this but her eyes suddenly fell on her cat and she stared at him in disbelief. "Ookami-sama?" He looked up at her and meowed in greeting. "What're you..? Sensei, how long has he been here?"

"He showed up sometime last night and has been hanging around all day."

"You naughty cat!" She scolded in a very motherly way, "I was worried sick about you!"

Ookami bowed his head in shame.

"I thought you were hurt, or eaten..!" She scowled poutily. "You know better than to leave me worrying."

The cat started to meow in response but Erisu overrode him.

"I know you wanted to take care of Kakashi-sama but you can't leave for a whole day and night without an explanation!"

"Erisu," Kakashi said tentatively, "you're chastising a cat."

She opened her mouth as if to scold him too, then blinked. "Erm... Yes. Yes I am." Ookami licked her fingers appeasingly. "Let's pretend I wasn't, shall we?"

He tousled her hair playfully, laughing, and stretched contentedly. Maybe he'd take a few days off after recovery to spend time with Erisu... He could use a bit of a holiday.

"How's your team?" She asked after a moment.

"They're on a mission actually," he told her, "Sasori told them of a spy of his in Orochimaru's ranks so they've gone to meet him."

"Who's leading?"

"Tēn-Yamato-san. A boy named Sai has been assigned to the team as well." Erisu nodded thoughtfully.

"So then, they're looking for information on Sasuke-san?"

"That's right." He tilted his head back and groaned quietly. "I'm so hungry..."

"Awe," she said sympathetically. "You'll be on intravenous for a while. But when you're allowed liquids I'll make you some miso! If you'd like that, sensei."

He shook his head in amusement. "Of course I'd like that, Erisu."

Over the next couple days Erisu visited regularly, almost religiously, despite Yuma's determination to keep her busy. Kakashi tried to put them out of his mind and focus on a new training regimen for Naruto but it was hard not to dwell on the fact that Yuma was alone with Erisu for hours on end engaging her in physical interaction. Grappling, wrestling, holding her, and restraining her while she struggled... He sighed frustratedly, unable to understand what he was getting so worked up about it. His past pupils had been trained by people other than himself so why should Erisu be any different? It wasn't as if she was no longer interested in what he had to teach her. Was he really so insecure that he thought he'd lose her to Yuma? But then, what made him think Erisu was his anyways? She was a young, unattached, independent young woman who was only in his life by coincidence. She was nothing but a student. But he couldn't deny that he was feeling threatened by the prospect of Erisu joining Team Yuma.

Why? He hadn't the faintest, but it was a resolute fact that he wanted Yuma as far from her as possible. Erisu was _his_ apprentice and _his_ protege. Kakashi wanted her all to himself, and didn't intend to share her with anybody.

~Erisu~

"Yo, Erisu-san!" Sota detached himself from the shadows and fell into step beside her in the empty street. "Just finished visiting Mr. Hero?"

"I just saw Kakashi-sensei, yes." She eyed him suspiciously as they walked along beneath a setting sun.

"You visit him everyday," he observed.

"Well, he is my mentor and I am a medical ninja," she said casually, "overseeing his recovery has been very educational."

"Are flowers and handmade cards part of the learning process?" His black eyes glittered with mischief.

"I-how? Were you following me?!"

"Kiyomi is the spymaster and I'm but her humble servant." He bounced along beside her. "We've known Reiketsu-Kakashi for ages, you see, but we've never noticed any girlfriends, or boyfriends for that matter." He added as an afterthought.

"Kiyomi-san told you to follow me?" Erisu asked, aghast.

He laughed aloud. "No I'm just messing with you," he said with an impish grin, "I was visiting my mother."

"In the hospital?" Erisu faltered.

"Mm yes. She's coming to the end now," he told her conversationally, "Tsunade-sama thinks it'll only be a couple more weeks."

"My condolences," she said softly.

He looked at her in surprise. "Oh it's no big deal! She's at a ripe old age, my mum, happy to go! I'll miss her sure but I'll see her again if my karma's good." He did a little hop and clicked his heels. "Hey, wanna go for a beer? I've got a hankering for company."

"I don't really drink, but I'd be happy to keep you company."

Sota lead the way down a side alley, lighting a cigarette as they walked. He puffed in silence for a few paces before speaking again.

"Do you know if Kiyomi's seeing anyone?" He asked in an attempted carefree air.

"I hadn't thought to ask." Erisu racked her memory to try and recall Kiyomi ever mentioning a lover. "She told me her and Yuma were an item at the academy."

"Yeah but," a plume of acrid smoke issued from his scarred mouth as he spoke. "They were basically kids then. We all graduated at fourteen. Besides," he exhaled loudly, "she hates his guts."

"Does she?" Erisu wasn't sure. "She seemed pretty torn up when Himura-san attacked him."

Sota laughed bitterly. "Well, wouldn't you be if your teammate tried to off your captain? Nah..." He puffed again. "Yuma's too conceited for her. Kiyomi has to be the boss of the pairing or she won't settle."

Erisu regarded Sota thoughtfully. She was on his left, where the scarring wasn't as bad. There was a darkness in his expression that was unlike him. She let herself feel him...

"You've always loved her?" She asked gently.

He wasn't surprised or offended, simply nodding without a trace of shame. "She's as wild and dangerous as her fire nature," he said wistfully, "I've never met a woman as fierce and confident as her."

They dipped into a bar and slid into a booth beneath the blue haze of smoke that clouded the ceiling.

"But..." He snuffed out his cigarette in the ashtray, "...she hasn't given me a second glance since my burns."

Erisu did some silent math. "You were nine, ten when it happened?"

"Yeah, nine," he grinned despite the pain in his eyes, "training exercise with my mum in the woods. We were ambushed by a squad of Iwagakure ninjas. My mother blocked me at the last minute so it only got a bit of my face and shoulder. She got the full blast of it."

Erisu swallowed, horrified.

"Oi," he called to the barkeep, "two shots of whiskey, a large lager and-" he glanced down at Erisu, "what d'you want?"

"Oh, tea?"

He scoffed. "And a small hoppy!" adding to Erisu, with a dismissive wave to her protests, "relax, it's non-alcoholic. I'm not gonna get you drunk."

The bartender brought their drinks to nervous thanks from Erisu and the two drank in silence, Sota chasing his shots with beer.

"I'm surprised she lasted this long," Sota said after a deep swig, "my mum, she's been in the hospital for... Shit, sixteen years?" He snorted into his drink. "She used to be beautiful, now she looks like a wax dummy that got too close to a fire."

Erisu stared at him. It was too awful to imagine. Catching her expression he waved his hands consolingly.

"It's no big deal! She's fine! Still has all her sass and humour left and that's what's really important." He thought for a moment. "She does like to bitch about how her tits got burned off though..."

"She sounds a lot like my dad," Erisu mused.

"Oh yeah?" Sota drained his glass. "What's he like? You never talk about your family."

"I didn't know him very well," Erisu said quietly, "he died four years ago from terminal illness."

"Ah shitty." Sota flagged down the barkeep again, eyes on Erisu. "We're in the same boat then, you and me eh?"

"Yeah." She took another sip of her drink as Sota's were refilled.

"Childhood trauma, broken family, and topsy-turvy love life." He shot back more whiskey and drank his beer deeply.

"What makes you think I've had a childhood trauma?" She asked warily.

"Your eyes." He set down his glass clumsily. "There's abandonment and loss in them."

"Oh..." She gazed into the ruddy liquid, swirling it and watching the foam make a whirlpool. "I don't have a love life though."

"And I don't have an ugly face," he laughed.

"Your face _isn't_ ugly," she said sternly.

"You're right." He stroked the maimed flesh like a model in a mirror. "It adds to my charm." He laughed softly and looked down at his reflection in his beer, that cheery, carefree smile fading into a crooked line of contemplation. He waved a hand and downed another shot.

Sota sighed deeply. "Kiyomi's beautiful."

"Yeah, she is." Erisu watched him closely.

"I'd make 'er a queen." His eyes were distant. "She deservess that."

"Sota-san," she began gently.

"Skip the 'san' would j'ya?" He said thickly with his trademark grin, "we should be'hona firs' name basis, all thingss consider'dered." Erisu nodded with a reassuring smile.

"Want to head home, Sota?" She asked kindly, "we can talk a bit more about your mum, eh?"

"Yeah, good 'ol mum," he smiled broadly, "she thought I'd be married by'now y'know." He finished the tall glass, smacking his lips. "Alwayss wan'ed gran'kids. I'm'her only child." He made to summon more drinks but Erisu met the barkeep's eye.

"Where do you live?" She asked, distracting him.

"Inthenaradistrict," he slurred.

"I'm sorry?"

" _Nara!_ " He annunciated loudly.

"Alrighty." She rose and sheafed a handful of yen onto the table. "Would you show me?"

"Oh ho ho!" He stood tipsily. "'Tryna gemme drunk an back to my place eh?" He grinned humorously.

"Yes, exactly." She followed him out into the blustery night air and along his zigzagging track up the road.

"Y'know who'you look like?" He asked as they passed beneath an arch of flowering trees. "Yamanaga Inoishie!"

"You think so?" She kept her voice nonchalant but felt her heart speed up with anxiety. Was he aware of her relation to Inoichi?

"Yeah, yer like'ah bleashed out vershon ov 'im." He was growing more and more difficult to understand.

"Do you drink a lot, Sota?"

"Nahhh," he lit another cigarette with trembling hands, "only when my'mum's abou'to die."

"Do you want me to come visit her with you tomorrow?" Erisu offered as Sota wobbled against her.

"She'd prolly like'that!" He grinned happily. "Maybe make'er one'uff yer cardss!"

"What's her favourite animal?"

"Weasels," he said with certainty, "they're my ssummon."

She smiled despite her increasing sadness for him. Of course he'd summon weasels.

Sota skipped ahead a few strides and spun around to face her, eyes glistening. Erisu stopped and they faced each other in silence for a few moments beneath the heavily perfumed flowers arching overhead. His mangled face broke into a sweet smile as he looked at her fondly.

"I've gotta feelin we're gonna be vessfriendss, you an I," he told her firmly, his optimism humbling. "Thankss fer the company Erishu, it meanss a lot." He dropped his cigarette on the path and crushed it with his foot. When he looked up again his eyes were quite clear.

"Don't le'the pain of yer passt prevent you from seizing the preshent, eh?"

"Yeah," she whispered, feeling the hurricane of emotion coming off of him. Then he stepped forward and hugged her, a firm and supportive hug.

"You promisse me," he said in her ear, "promisse you won' le'the good thingss slip away, yeah? You deserve to'be happy. You deserve a man who'll treat ya like a queen." Then he released her, grinning again and strode up the walk to his house, waving over his shoulder. She watched him until he'd disappeared through the door.

"I promise."


	18. Chapter 16: Unrequited Affections

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

 ** _Urequited Affections_**

~Erisu~

Another woman might have thought Yuma was dashing and desirable but Erisu found him about as attractive as a tapeworm. The exterior visage of chiseled cheekbones and dark glossy hair were as superficial as clothing to her as she could see straight through him to the unpleasantness beneath. When her silvery blue eyes met his thistle white orbs all she saw was sanctimonious hubris and his suppressed feelings of inadequacy and cowardice. Despite being highborn and presumably well educated Yuma was rather thuggish and ignorant to the mechanisms of the world. Unless they were talking about martial arts and combat strategies they couldn't even hold a conversation for a minute before he turned her mind to sludge. She missed Kakashi's superior intellect and patience. She missed the way he'd explain the most complex jutsus and delve into obscure history with her... And she missed his deep, lulling voice, his mellow, sleepy-eyed expression...

"Erisu-chan!" Yuma broke into her fantasies. "Snap out of it!"

"Yes sir!" She jumped instinctively to attention, forgetting they were sparring, and failed to dodge a blow to the chest.

His hand stabbed into her chakra point, blood spurted from her mouth, and she staggered backwards as her lung literally popped. So surprised that he'd used a Jūkenhō strike during Aikido training, Erisu lost her balance and hit the ground. Coughing and spluttering as her dilapidated lung filled with blood, she struggled to heal herself. She pressed a hand of blue, fiery chakra against her spasming diaphragm and desperately tried to repair the damage, syphoning out the blood and closing the punctured tissue of her lung.

"If that'd been a real fight you'd be dead," Yuma told her pitilessly, "never leave yourself open! Your mind must always be on the battle at hand!"

Her brain was fuzzy from a lack of oxygen as she fought for air. Her heart was being compressed by the flood of fluid and the pockets of air building up in her ribcage were collapsing her lungs. Nasty purple hemorrhaging was spreading across her skin beneath her kimono and shadows floated across her vision.

"Get your head out of the clouds! Your footwork is sloppy and your reaction time is slow!" He scolded heatedly, "you need to take training seriously. I won't go easy on you like Kakashi-senpai."

Her ringing ears blocked out his stream of criticism as she focused on reorganizing the blood flow in her chest. She took a shuddering breath, stabbing pain making her eyes sting with barely suppressed tears. Her lungs were mostly emptied of blood now, she coughed up another metallic mouthful and spat it into the grass.

"That's disgusting!" Yuma exclaimed, "I hate it when girls spit."

She glared at him reproachfully, gritting her teeth to hold back the flurry of insults forming in her mind.

"Well are you going to sit there all day?" He went on impatiently, "really Erisu, if you're not going to take your training seriously then I can't see you ever making Chūnin."

She struggled to her feet, taking short, laboured breaths. "You said-you wouldn't-use your-gentle fist-on me," she gasped haltingly, "you-punctured-my lung..." Her voice broke slightly from the effort of speaking.

"Well maybe you should've been paying attention instead of thinking about Kakashi."

She blinked at him in confusion. "Why...what-makes you-think I was..?"

His eerie white eyes narrowed coldly. "You get a stupid smitten expression on your face whenever you talk about him and you had the same look just now," he told her without even trying to conceal his contempt, "it's pretty pathetic actually."

Erisu swallowed the injury of these words and didn't reply. She couldn't understand why Yuma kept training her if he hated her so much.

"You and him are really close, huh?" His voice had a new edge of anger to it, "are you involved?"

"Involved?" It took her a moment to realize what he meant. "What? No. He's my sensei." She eyed him as a wave of emotion crashed against her senses. She let herself feel him and detected fury and an indisputable jealousy.

"Don't think you can fool me Erisu," Yuma spat.

Erisu was bewildered. "What's this about?"

"You and Kakashi!" He exploded and she realized he'd wanted to say it for some time now. "You're infatuated with him aren't you?"

"I'm not infatuated," she replied, "I admire and respect my superior. There's nothing between us."

"You've convinced yourself," he laughed wryly, "you're pretending you're not obsessed with Kakashi-senpai when it's obvious you are."

"I am not obsessed with anyone," she said flatly.

"I don't get why you like him so much. Sure, he's talented and clever but he's aloof and basically an ass. I mean how do you know if he's even attractive when he wears that mask all the time?"

"There are things far more attractive than a pretty face or appealing body," she said in exasperation, "I don't need to see Kakashi-senpai to know he's beautiful."

Yuma narrowed his pale eyes at her, "beautiful?" He sneered, "the guy's an enigma. He cares more about sulking in a graveyard than he cares about you."

Stung, Erisu looked away, her vision of Kakashi's memories and grief swimming to the forefront of her mind. "Please don't speak about him that way in my presence," she said quietly, "he's suffered more than you know."

"Big fucking deal," Yuma said scathingly, "we've all suffered. Cry me a river! He's not some tortured hero, Erisu, and he doesn't love you!"

"I never said he does!" She back stepped, affronted.

"Do you think you're special or something? Think you can make him happy? Please." He tossed his head and scoffed. "Believe me, he wants to be miserable and doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's not going to change his selfish and morbid lifestyle for a little girl like you."

" _Little girl?_ " She crossed her arms.

"Yeah, that's right." He stepped towards her, shoulders back and eyes flashing challengingly. "You're just a kid to him, no different than the other brats fresh out of the academy."

"I don't care if that's how he sees me," she lied, "he's a better teacher than you."

"Bullshit," Yuma leered down at her, "you're only saying that cause you think he's hot. Or as you put it," he imitated her mockingly, "'beautiful'!"

"No, I'm saying it cause, unlike you, he'd never endanger his pupil's life to prove a point."

"Oh what, you're going to play the victim now?"

Trying to suppress her emotions, Erisu looked pointedly away and breathed. Her damaged lung throbbed horribly.

"You visit him everyday don't you?" Yuma went on, unwilling to drop the subject. "Do you tuck in his blankets and wipe his forehead? Bring him flowers and sweets and tell him you believe in him?"

"What do you want from me?" She demanded, loosing her temper at last, "why're you interrogating me?"

"I want to know if you love him," he said, equally angry.

"Why do you care?" Erisu cried, voice rising, "how could my feelings towards an unrelated shinobi _possibly_ affect you?"

"I'm your future captain," his voice raised over hers, "it affects me if members of my team have divided loyalties."

"Divided loyalties?" She echoed furiously, "we're all allied to the same Hokage! I don't know where you got the idea that I'd ever be on your team but I don't see you hounding the others if they show an interest in another person!"

"So you admit you're interested in him?" Yuma stepped closer, his face centimetres from her own, "just tell me if you're intimate with him or not!"

" _It's none of your goddamn business!_ " She shouted louder than she had in years. Then she turned on heel and stormed out of the training hollow.

"Get back here!" Yuma shouted after her, "I didn't give you permission to leave!"

Erisu ignored him and headed into the forest. She'd had enough of Yuns to last a lifetime.

Kakashi~

Kakashi pushed his weak and shaking body off the bed, fists firm and trembling beneath him. He wasn't going to let hospitalization make him soft. Forcing himself past the burning pain in his core and the wailing protest of his muscles, Kakashi counted his pushups in silent breathing. There was a knock at the door and he shoved himself into a sitting position, swinging his bare feet over the edge of the bed.

"Come in," he said, and bit his lip, smiling at the sight of her. Erisu was in the doorway accompanied by a heavenly smell. "Is that..?"

"Miso? 'Tis indeed!" She pranced in, laden with a heavy looking bag. She opened it and handed him a warm, lidded container of soup and a thermos of tea.

He murmured his thanks as he unsealed the lid. A waft of mouthwatering steam rose from the golden broth. He breathed the aroma in deeply then froze. Erisu was watching him intently as they both thought the same thing: he'd have to pull down his mask to eat. His stomach growled.

"What've you got there?" He asked in hopes of diverting her attention.

"Oh," her eyes suddenly misted with sadness as she lowered her gaze to another hand drawn card. "Kobayashi Sota, from Team Yuma, his mother's very ill so I offered to visit her with him today since she won't last much longer. I packed some gifts for her but I just ran into him and he said he'd like to put off the visit till tomorrow due to a rather bad hangover."

Kakashi's stomach clenched inexplicably. "Sota-san..." He tried to place the name. "Is he the one with the acid burns?"

"The very same," she sighed, sitting down across from him. "Everyone in the village is so wrought with suffering, losing loved ones everyday." She stared gloomily at the pink carnations and white weasel depicted on the shimmering card. Kakashi wondered absently how she made her drawings glitter and gleam like metal and jewels. Then with a deep, steadying breath he decided it was time to bring up Yuma's visit.

"About Team Yuma," Kakashi began carefully, "has Yuma-san spoken to you about his request for Hiroki's replacement?"

She was pulled out of her reverie and turned her glassy eyes on him.

"Only that his request is pending, why?"

"He visited me," Kakashi said, deciding to get straight to the point, "Tsunade-sama has left your future in my hands, so to speak, and so Yuma-san came by to request you."

"Me?" She stared at him, completely dumbfounded. "But I'm only a-"

"Genin," he finished for her, "well he doesn't seem to care about that."

Erisu looked troubled. "I have no qualms with Kiyomi-san or Sota-san but Yuma-senpai is... Well if my superiors believe me to be qualified for such a placement I shall respect their decision and comply with their wishes."

"Erisu," he groaned inwardly, "you can say no."

"...I can?"

"As far as I'm concerned, and apparently I'm the authority in the matter, it's your opinion that matters," he surveyed her thoughtfully, "what do _you_ want?"

Warmth was visible in her ivory face as she looked at him in breathless wonder as if it was the first time someone had taken her thoughts into consideration.

"I want to be with you," her voice was quiet and tender but it became detached and slightly melancholy almost immediately, "if you'll still have me."

"Of course I'll have you." His eyes flickered over her face furtively. He searched her eyes and saw sharp, fresh pain there. "What's happened? Did Yuma say something to you?"

"'Tisn't anything..." She mumbled, "just a stupid argument."

Kakashi set the soup aside and peered at her, anger boiling in his core as he imagined the kind of cruel things Yuma was likely to say. " _Erisu_.."

"He made some accusations," she said evasively, "inappropriate implications and whatnot. He criticized your teaching methods. Mocked you and insulted me for lo-admiring you, and well..." She hid her face behind her hair. "...he made me lose my temper." She said it as though it was the gravest of offences.

An inkling of pleasant surprise warmed him; she admired him.

"What sort of inappropriate implications?" He asked composedly.

Erisu hesitated, cheeks slightly flushed, though whether from embarrassment or anger it was hard to tell. "Yuma-senpai is under the impression that you and I are in a romantic relationship," she said in a voice of forced indifference, eyes conveniently concentrated on the fastening of her satchel. "He was rather insistent and accused me of being in love with you."

Kakashi swallowed, mouth oddly dry. "Well, that was rather cruel of him."

"Oh.." She looked up at him sharply. "I meant no offence, O-sama. You're a brilliant man and esteemed jōnin, I'd consider myself lucky to have you!"

He looked round at her, caught off guard.

"I-I mean..." She raised her hands slightly as if to prove her innocence. "...um-never mind. I'll just stop talking."

Kakashi laughed, grinning broadly. "Thanks Erisu, I appreciate the sentiment."

She returned her eyes to the buckle of her bag with apparent fascination. There was a brief interlude of silence before she broke it.

"So how're you feeling, O-sama?" She asked with artificial cheer, "you'll be up and about rather soon I gather?"

"Yeah." He'd completely forgotten about the miso. "A couple more days I think. I'm hoping I'll be able to take some time off to rest once I'm discharged and..." He hesitated, words suddenly unwilling to leave his mouth. He meant to say that he wanted nothing but to spend time with her, to loiter in the library with her, to spar together and lay around under the shade of the willow tree but the words wouldn't come.

"...and make sure I've completely got my strength back before resuming my duties." The mention of duties had an instant effect of Erisu who straightened professionally.

"Oh yes. When is your team due back, sir?"

Kakashi frowned. "You don't have to call me sir... But they should be back in a day or two" He rolled his shoulders, stiff and sore from exercising. Erisu gasped. Looking up he saw that all colour had drained from her face; she seemed petrified.

"What's wrong?" He started forward as Erisu's fingers fluttered to her mouth, round eyes fixed on his shoulder. "Erisu..?"

"It was you.." She whispered so quietly he almost missed it.

"What?"

"You're Anbu?"

He glanced down at the red spiral on his shoulder. "Formerly. I left to be a genin instructor some years ago, why? What's up?"

Her eyes roved over his body with a sudden ravenous curiosity, taking in his every detail. His face warmed from her blatant stare.

"Erisu..?" She was being odd, well, _odder._ "Are you alright?"

She regained her senses, rising swiftly. "Yes sir, I just..." Her eyes were fastened to his tattoo. "...I should go check on Sota. He seemed pretty ill when we spoke earlier."

 _Sota? No honorific?_ Kakashi's eye narrowed. _When did they get so close?_

"Enjoy your soup..." She started to drift away again. "...old family recipe." And she was gone, leaving Kakashi alone and perplexed. Ookami stuck his face into the bowl and lapped noisily.


	19. Chapter 17: The Masked Boy

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

 ** _The Masked Boy_**

~ (Fifteen Years Ago) ~

The Kyubi's jaws parted and he roared. The sound causing a cascade of shattered tiles from above, blood trickled from Erisu's ears as her eardrums burst. She could see the ribbed palate of its mouth, the yellowed molars, and the fleshy uvula vibrating from the force of its voice. One resounding fact crystallized in her mind: **she was going to die.**

Then someone shouted in a strange and far off voice and the Kyūbi's attention was mercifully diverted. Shinobi rained down on The Fox's head with a clamour of battle cries. Erisu regained her senses and stumbled away, clinging to her stuffy like a life raft as the Kyūbi tossed his head to shake off his attackers. She dodged, dazed and blinded, through the discord. An explosion behind her staggered her momentarily but she regained her balance and rounded a corner just as the building behind her crashed into a heap of splintered wood and flames. She realized too late that she'd ran straight into a street of the dead. Charred bodies dangled from the smouldering buildings as the fire climbed around her. She stood, frozen in the sweltering heat. The caustic stink of smoke and burning meat clogging her lungs. She was trapped.

"Little girl!" She turned to see a teenaged boy in the alley ahead, "this way! Now!"

Erisu obeyed, her frilly baby doll dress fluttering around her like snow as she dashed through the smog and embers towards his outstretched arms. They collided and she hugged him in terror, burying her face in the pale grey flak jacket that denoted him as Anbu.

"Are you hurt?" He asked in a low, emotionless voice.

Erisu shook her head, her waist long hair bouncing around her. His dark grey eye looked her over quickly for injury through the slits in his ceramic mask, then he hoisted her into his arms and leapt through the fire. Flames licked them for a heartbeat and Erisu could smell her singed hair as the boy's feet landed soundlessly on the rooftop. She stared over his shoulder at the writhing shape of the Kitsune through the smoky haze and hugged him tighter, her marmalade tabby toy dangling over his back. He adjusted her gently, securing her against him with armoured arms then set off at the inhuman speed only shinobi could reach. Erisu's sobs were muffled by his armour as the ninja carried her through the chaos and into the night.

All around were the muffled screams of agony and grief as bodies were maimed and families were severed. But all Erisu knew was the warm safety of the boy's arms as he stole her away from the nightmare reality had become. The huff of his breathing and the pounding of his heart against hers nearly lulled her to sleep but she remained conscious, hanging onto him as if she'd drown if she let go. She was safe as long as he held her.

"Here you go," came his muffled voice through his mask, "you're safe now, let go."

Erisu finally dared open her teary blue eyes as she was lowered onto the cool grass, safe behind a barrier of chakra. She gazed up at the face of her hero, hidden behind the doglike Anbu mask. His silvery white hair was wild and side swept and only his heavy lidded eyes were visible through the redlined sockets of his canine persona. Mismatched, grey and red... He looked down at her, calm and aloof, as she gazed up in wonder.

"Thank you, Senpai," she murmured as she stepped back and bent into a deep bow, "I'm indebted to you." He placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to look up timidly.

"Not at all," he said softly, "you're a member of Konohagakure, are you not?"

She nodded.

"The ninja of Konoha have sworn their lives to the protection of the people, our comrades," he told her, "a true shinobi defends his comrades no matter the cost. I'll protect every one of you with my life." His odd eyes bore into hers with fiery intensity. "Because that's my ninja way."

The stoic sincerity of those words awoke in her an understanding unlike any she'd felt before. In that moment Erisu's eyes opened for the first time, her irises crystallizing into pink opalescent fractals of empathic comprehension. She saw her destiny in his mismatched eyes as his emotions melded with her own and his passion, desires, fears, and intentions were laid bare. This stranger had just risked his life, literally walked through fire, to save her: a complete stranger. His determination to defend others, regardless the cost to his own mind and body, and his desire to fulfil his debts and uphold his secret promises whispered in her mind, telling her of comradeship and sacrifice.

The earth quaked beneath them as the Kyūbi howled and thrashed beyond the barrier. Erisu realized that the ninja were fighting and dying for her and her family at that very moment. This was what she must be, she understood as she stared at the masked boy before her. She would become a ninja and protect the people. She would give back to the shinobi and fulfil her debt to her hero.

" _Imōto!_ " Yusha pushed through the crowd and caught his little sister in an almost painful embrace, tears streaming down his freckled cheeks, and his voice cracked with emotion. "I thought I'd lost you!"

"Oniisan! The demon fox... He was going to kill me but I was rescued by..." Realizing she'd forgotten to ask her rescuer's name, she turned back to the boy but he was no longer beside her.

Pulling away from her brother, Erisu craned her neck in search of her rescuer. She turned in a circle, scanning the swarms of people, but the masked boy was gone and her eyes cooled back to blue

~ (Present Day) ~

~Erisu~

Blinking open her bleary eyes Erisu shook off the wispy tendrils of sleep that clung to her mind and pulled herself out of her dream. Had it been a dream or a memory? She stretched with a soft sighing yawn and reached instinctively for her medicine. Choking back the dry tablets and forcing down some water, Erisu rose and crossed the luxurious modern rug adorned in a black and silver botanical design. She set the kettle on the burner and opened the cupboard in search of tea.

"Oooh!" A little packaged cake was wedged in with the sugar and baking soda. She hoisted herself onto the counter to sit, swinging her legs, and breakfasted on the chocolate goodness.

" _Mrrrrrowl?_ " Aiko padded over inquisitively, tail curled like a question mark.

"Morning, Ohime-sama," Erisu shook some kibble into the hand painted food dishes and refilled the automatic feline water fountain, aware that people would accuse her of poor budgeting if they saw the way she doted on her cats.

She glanced up at the wall clock:10:27am

She didn't have to meet Sota until three and, still seething from her spat with Yuma, had decided not to join him in the training ground today. She had time to visit Kakashi again. But could she face him? If what she was thinking was true... She swallowed the last bit of cake and added three heaping spoonfuls of sugar to her steeping tea, mind racing. Silver hair, masked and aloof... _Could it be?_

Erisu sat down at the foot of Kakashi's bed, having brought him more tea and broth, and examined him critically. He was lounging against his pillows reading his raunchy book and stroking Ookami with his long pale fingers.

 _Of course..._ How'd she missed it before? When Erisu looked at the mysterious shinobi in the hospital bed something it clicked in her mind. Without his headband to hold his hair up his silver bangs hung in his face. His wild hair fell in a perfect arrangement of messy, spiky locks and his dark eye flicked over the page rapidly, Sharingan closed. His slender muscled arms were pale and bare and the scarlet swirl that marked him as Anbu on his shoulder was as bold as blood. She recognized him in a different way and her heart started to race.

 _Kakashi_ had found her in the fiery carnage that night fifteen years ago. _Kakashi_ had carried her to safety. And _Kakashi_ had been the one who'd awoken her Himitsugan and inspired her to be a ninja. How was it possible? What a bizarre coincidence that the boy who's saved her life all those years ago was the man she'd found in the forest. Fate had a sense of humour it seemed, and had somehow saw fit to cross their paths again. She really did owe him everything... Her life, her eyesight, her inspiration and perseverance... And then he'd helped her become a shinobi and even taken her on as his personal pupil...

"It was you..." she said in a hushed voice, "you were the boy..."

Kakashi looked up, startled, and blinked his heavy lidded eyes groggily.

"You saved my life," she whispered, "the boy in the mask..."

Kakashi sat up and stared at her, "what are you talking about?"

"Fifteen years ago," she explained rapidly, "during the Kyūbi's attack I got separated from my family. The Kyūbi nearly devoured me but I was rescued by a teenaged boy from the Anbu. His silver hair and mismatched eyes, his white dog mask... He didn't say his name, but he got me to safety behind the barrier and..." She trailed off staring at him in astonishment, " _...it was you..._ "

Kakashi frowned thoughtfully, eye averted then spoke, "a little girl in a white nightdress with long blonde hair..." He gazed into her eyes, recognizing her as well, "of course! I remember your eyes changing colour when you looked at me... And you had a stuffed cat toy with you."

"Baka," she said instantly.

"What?"

"I called the toy Baka," she explained, embarrassed, "I didn't know the meaning of the word when I named him."

Kakashi stared at her then shook his head, chuckling. "Only you would name your stuffed cat 'Idiot'."

She smiled and plucked the hem of her kimono. "It was you," she whispered again, more to herself this time. She felt as though she'd found a lost puzzle piece that made the picture make sense at last. "The boy who inspired me to become a ninja..."

"Hm?" Kakashi put down his book and turned to her quizzically. "I did?"

Erisu laughed aloud with joy, "what a coincidence that you'd end up being my sensei."

"Quite the coincidence indeed..." He had gone still, an intense look in his downcast eyes.

"O-sama?" She moved to his side in concern, "is everything alright?"

His troubled expression cleared and his eye softened. "Yes," he answered softly, gazing into her, "everything's fine." He reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair from her eyes. "Perfectly fine."

Her skin tingled at his fleeting touch and her heart started racing again but not from the revelation. His eye was boring into her with such profound clarity that she was unnerved.

"Erisu I-" his words were cut short as the door burst open and Rock Lee tumbled in.

Erisu leapt away from Kakashi, face hot, as Lee regained his balance and turned his round eyes on Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He gasped, "I am sorry for the intrusion but Gai-sensei has sent me with a message!"

"Alright, Lee-san," Kakashi seemed to be struggling not to to sigh as he spoke, "what is it?"

"N-news from Team Kakashi," Lee stammered with barely tempered excitement, "they're on their way back and-" he cut himself off as he spotted Erisu. "...Erisu-san, I wasn't expecting you to be here!"

She smiled, amused. That was what he'd said last times they'd crossed paths. "I'll see you later Kakashi-sensei," she said to the amazing man as she got to her feet, adding to Lee, "nice seeing you, Lee-san." She excused herself politely and, still smiling from her bizarre realization, headed off to meet Sota.


	20. Chapter 18: Liaison

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

 ** _Liaison_**

~Erisu~

Leaves rattled across the trodden dirt road as Erisu headed towards the hospital, laden with flowers. She thought miserably about Sota and how much pain he must be in...

" _Ugh_! How dare you?!"

Erisu looked up curiously to see a group of women in the shade of an ornamental plum tree. Three dressed in overly tight and revealing outfits, the fourth recognizable by her knee length black hair.

"What?" Kiyomi tossed her mane, hand on hip. "Why's it acceptable for you to be a fake-ass slut but not for me to point it out?"

"You're such a bitch!" Shrieked an overly made up woman.

"Damn straight. And might I just say I love what you've done with your hair, Asaya! How'd you get it to grow out of your nose like that?"

The other women gasped.

"Well at least I don't look like I'm wearing a burlap sack for a jacket!"

"Awe," Kiyomi said sweetly, "was that supposed to offend me? Cause the only thing offending me is that outfit."

"Excuse me?!" Asaya smoothed her bright pink mini skirt. "I'm freakin hot!"

"Bitch please, I could wipe your beauty off with a tissue."

"Oh yeah?" She sneered.

"Yeah, get me one out of your bra and I'll show you."

The woman spluttered incoherently.

"Some advice?" Kiyomi smiled pleasantly. "Maybe if you eat some of that makeup you'll finally be pretty on the inside."

"Well you walk like a man!"

"Oh baby that's just sad." Kiyomi puckered her lips pityingly. "I came for a battle of wits but it seems you're unarmed."

"There's a rumour going around," one of the other women said suddenly, "the word is you were banging Hiroki-san. Y'know, the _traitor_."

"A rumour?" Kiyomi raised her brows in mock interest. "Well it's good to know you're spreading something other than your legs Tamoyo."

" _Ugh_! You-you-"

"Bitch?" She suggested, "try something a little more creative like... Cunt maybe? You see I'd call you a cunt but you have neither the depth or the warmth so..."

"Shut up!"

"Say that again,"Kiyomi dared her.

" _Shut up!_ "

"That's right." Kiyomi's eyes flashed. "Cause you're my bitch and bitches do as they're told." Tamoyo turned beat red, unable to reply.

"Nice tan, Kiyomi," the third woman piped up, "orange is my favourite colour!"

"Mine's brown." Kiyomi turned on her with a dazzling smile. "That's why I like your teeth. Shame about you breath though, it smells like dick." She looked over and caught sight of Erisu.

"Hey!" She called jovially, "I was waiting for you!"

"Who's that?" Asked Tamoyo scathingly, "your girlfriend?"

"I'm straight actually," Kiyomi laughed, "figured that out when I slept with your boyfriend." She turned on heel, calling over her shoulder, "let's do this again sometime darlings! I love volunteering to spend time with special needs!" She left them baffled and fuming and swept over to Erisu, head raised and eyes glittering with callous satisfaction. Erisu was astonished by Kiyomi's vulgarity.

"Hey there beautiful!" Kiyomi greeted her warmly, "heading to visit Mr. Hero?"

"I wish you guys would stop calling him that," Erisu said quietly as they passed the trio of skimpily clad women. It was even more unnerving now that Erisu had realized that Kakashi really was her hero.

"'Guys'?" She looked puzzled for a moment then let out a shout of laughter. "Has Sota been calling him that too? Ha! That little twat, stealing my nicknames!"

Erisu smiled. Kiyomi's lush lips and charming smile were in stark contrast with her horrendously foul language. Her elegant features and dirty mind were like an ironic joke. Perfect feminine beauty and crasser than the most grizzly and perverse old man. It was odd, yet compelling, to Erisu that someone as calm and kind as Sota would be so resolutely devoted to a sassy and domineering person like Kiyomi. Wild fire and a steadfast mountain, and yet they were as perfect as sugar in lemonade or cream in coffee. They weren't opposites per se, asymmetrical but still aesthetically appealingly when paired, like Kakashi's mismatched eyes.

"So how's Kakashi-senpai doing?" Kiyomi asked, "are you lovingly tending to his wounds like a sweet bedside nurse?"

"He's doing well," Erisu replied, ignoring the last part, "he'll be up and about soon."

"Good. Then Yuma will stop fussing over you and start doing his job again!" Kiyomi flicked her hair out of her face. "He's like a lovesick puppy, the fool."

"Yuma-senpai?" Erisu looked at her in repulsed astonishment. "What're you talking about? Yuma-senpai hates me."

Kiyomi scoffed. "For an empath you can be really thick," she said, "the idiot gets completely dewy-eyed whenever he says he's off to train you. Seems to think you're some sort of divine saviour or some shit."

Erisu stared ahead in confusion. Yuma clearly despised her what with his fury in regards to her closeness to Kakashi.

"So are you and Kakashi-senpai an item yet?" Kiyomi asked unexpectedly.

"Why does everyone think that?" Erisu demanded, "he's a _man_ for goodness sakes!"

"Of course he's a man, what d'you-?" She stopped walking abruptly. "Oh. _Ohhhhh_! You're a lesbian?"

Erisu gaped mutely for a few moments before she finally found her voice. "Well... I think so? I mean the only person I was ever attracted to was female."

"Well are you attracted to me?" Kiyomi asked in genuine curiosity.

"Um..." Erisu considered this for a moment. "I know you're attractive, but I don't desire you-er-sexually."

"Are you attracted to other women?" They was nothing unkind about her tone in the slightest and it was relieving to discuss the topic shamelessly.

"Well no..."

"What about men?"

Erisu thought about this for the first time. She'd never even considered that she might be allured by a man...

"...maybe?" She looked up at Kiyomi with round eyes. "Am I bisexual?!"

"I don't think so..." Kiyomi tapped her maroon lip thoughtfully. "I think you're pansexual."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're not attracted to both genders but rather attracted to _individuals_ regardless of gender, understand?"

Erisu nodded slowly. She hadn't been aware of such a classification but it fit her perfectly... They continued towards the hospital in relative silence after that until:

"What's with the carnations?" Kiyomi asked, glancing at Erisu's bouquet of flowers, "those are more of a Mother's Day gift than something you'd give to your sweetheart aren't they?"

"They're for Sota-san's mother actually," Erisu said quietly, "I'm visiting her with him today."

"Oh..." Kiyomi's voice had completely lost its sharp, teasing tone and her expression had softened. "Can I come?"

"Well it'd be up to Sota-san, wouldn't it?" Erisu paused, feeling Kiyomi's compassion and sadness. "But I doubt he'd be opposed. We can ask him once he arrives if you'd like?"

"Great!" Her face bloomed into a smile like a flower opening to the sun. "Oh, but I didn't get her anything..."

"Here." Erisu handed her the flowers. "I made a card for her anyways."

"Thanks Erisu-chan." Kiyomi gazed at the flowers for a few moments. "I haven't seen Kobayashi-san for a long time... Sota doesn't talk about her much."

"You and him attended the academy together right?" Erisu snuck a sideways look, eyes pink.

"Yeah, and we were assigned to Team Four together under Aburame Shorou, Yuma too," Kiyomi told her, "we all made Chūnin together at fifteen as well but then we went our separate ways. I'm still pissed that Yuma was made captain. It's total bullshit."

Erisu didn't answer, her thoughts elsewhere. They walked in silence until they reached the hospital.

"Well, Sota-san should be here in about five minutes," Erisu said, checking her fob watch, "if he's more punctual than Kakashi-sensei."

Sota strolled out of an alley at that very moment, grinning broadly."Erisu-san you made it!" He surveyed Kiyomi appraisingly. "Hey, Kiyomi! Are those flowers for me?"

"Don't be stupid." Kiyomi smirked fondly. "They're for your mother. Would you mind if I join you guys? I haven't seen your mum in ages."

Sota was taken aback. "Yeah, I mean no, that is I don't mind." His smile flickered back into place. "She was always very fond of you."

Erisu squinted analytically at Kiyomi, gauging her emotions and found precisely what she'd expected. Kiyomi lowered her sharp burgundy eyes back to the carnations, the stripy pink petals reflected on her dark irises. She loved him too.

"Well, shall we?" Sota gestured for the women to follow him; the trio passed through the gates and started up the path, Erisu silently concocting a plan to get them to confess their affections to each other.

"Kaachan?" Sota slid open the door and peered inside. "I brought some friends with me."

Kiyomi and Erisu followed him into the hospital room. It had been decorated like the sitting room of a traditional Japanese home with photographs and paintings on the walls, armchairs and a low table on tatami mats in the corner. Painted privacy screens shielded the hospital bed from view. It was as clear as the crystal ornaments displayed on a squat bookshelf that the resident had been in this room for a long time and wasn't leaving anytime soon. Well, not being discharged home anyways.

"Sota is that you?" Came a strangled sounding voice from behind the screens. "You brought friends? That's a first! I thought you were hiding me away or something."

"I'm not hiding you mum," Sota sighed wearily as he lead the way to the living area. "Come out and say hi."

A middle aged woman shuffled out from behind the screen wearing an amethyst coloured dressing gown and slippers. Erisu stifled a gasp as she took in the woman's full appearance. The acid had eaten away flesh, cartilage and bone leaving her face deformed. Her nose was shrunken and collapsed, her skin a glossy mauve, rippled and pockmarked. Her lips had been eroded away, leaving a twisted, narrow hole for a mouth, teeth exposed in places. Grafted skin covered what Erisu imagined was an empty socket, while her other eye was squinted and foggy. A wig covered most of the damage to her head, but Erisu could tell, as the artificial hair swayed, that she was bald, ears resembling overlooked cauliflower. Her skull was misshapen like a half rotten and caving pumpkin, but when she took in the party of well wishers her frightening face lit up with joy.

"Kiyomi-chan!" She extended a prosthetic hand in greeting and pulled the dark haired woman into a tight hug. Her other hand, stubby and missing fingers, stroked Kiyomi's obsidian hair lovingly.

"Kobayashi-san, how are you?" Kiyomi asked affectionately as Sota's mother released her.

"How many times have I told you to call me Yuki?" Her voice was brittle and hoarse. Erisu realized that the acid must've done internal damage as well, likely due to inhalation during the attack.

"Mom, this is Hakuchō Erisu," Sota told her, "she's the one who saved Yuma."

"Not sure if you made the right choice there," Yuki joked, "Yuma-kun's been an ass since he was in diapers!" She peered at Erisu closely with her damaged eye.

"Well you a pretty little thing though," she said warmly as she wobbled forward to greet her, "it's nice to meet you Erisu-chan."

"The pleasure is mine Kobayashi-san." Erisu bowed humbly.

"We brought you flowers," Kiyomi said kindly, handing the bouquet to the old woman.

"You're so sweet." She tossed her head around for a moment, looking for something, then barked, "Sota, where's my tiffany vase?"

"Right here mum," he answered mellowly, taking the flowers and displaying them on the table. "Give her the card," he whispered to Erisu.

She immediately produced the card and nervously presented it to the disfigured lady. Yuki took it in her silicon hands with a twisted smile, and examined it with some difficulty.

"This is lovely!" She said sincerely, "where'd you buy it? Cards weren't this pretty in my day!"

"Erisu-san made it herself," Sota told her.

"Did you really?" She peered at Erisu even harder. "Fine craftsmanship! You could sell these!"

"I'm glad you like it, ma'am."

Yuki placed it on her dresser beside a framed photo. Erisu realized that the handsome, mousy haired boy and beautiful woman with glittering black eyes were Sota and his mother before the attack. Erisu's heart split.

"How're you feeling mum?" Sota kept his voice cheery but Erisu could feel his concern and pain as if a tornado was in the room with them.

"Tired," Yuki grunted dismissively. "Tsunade-hime's been breathing down my neck everyday. I think she forgets we're the same age!"

"Well you're not just more beautiful than her but smarter than her too," Sota said grinning.

"Oh shut up you!" Yuki cuffed him over the head playfully then turned to Kiyomi, a slightly glazed look in her eye. "Have you graduated the academy yet, Kiyomi-chan?"

Erisu's brows knitted as she observed Sota's tortured expression behind his mother. Kiyomi however, took it in stride.

"I have!" She told Yuki happily, "thanks for asking."

"I always knew you would." Yuki shuffled across the tatami mats. "I always said you were bright enough to make Hokage! Didn't I Sota? Sarutobi hasn't been in to see me in a long time though, that devil, I'll have to have a word with him." Then she doubled over suddenly in a fit of violent coughing. Sota was at her side instantly, ushering her into a chair.

Yuki waved him off as the coughing subsided, wiping her bloody mouth on the back of her hand. Erisu understood; Yuki's lungs were destroyed and infected.

"H-hey mum," Sota's voice trembled with barely contained emotion. "Wanna play some shōgi?"

"I just...need some...rest..." Yuki struggled through rasping breaths. "Be a...good...boy and...grab me my...water...would you?"

He hopped up obediently and rushed past Erisu, eyes glistening with tears, and vanished behind the screens.

"Sota's earth style is getting really good," Kiyomi said as she sat down in one of the chairs, "he's inherited your strength Kobayashi-san."

"That's good..." She coughed again, "I'm so...so proud."

Sota handed her a glass of water and set a pitcher on the table, ready to refill her cup if needed.

"I was hoping I'd-" she coughed again, "-have grandkids by now. Are you married yet, Kiyomi-chan?"

"No," Kiyomi smiled placidly. Erisu caught her eyes flicker briefly towards Sota although he didn't notice. "Not yet."

"You'll make a good wife," wheezed Yuki, "the mother's always the boss of the house and you'll be able to keep everyone in check-" _cough_ , "-isn't that right-" _cough_ , "-Sota?"

He nodded, only half listening, crooked mouth closed in a tight line. Yuki caved into another bought of hacking, waving Sota away as he hovered at her side. He wrung his hands, clearly desperate for something to do and resigned himself to pacing. He swept across the tatami mats and back again, hands folded behind his back and eyes fixed on his mother. On his third lap past Erisu caught Kiyomi's eye and managed to convey what was on her mind. Understanding, Kiyomi rose and caught Sota's arm.

"We'll be right back, Kobayashi-san," Kiyomi said sweetly, "Sota forgot something in the entrance hall." And she lead him forcibly from the room.

"He didn't forget anything," Yuki said quietly as the door slid closed, "I'm killing him."

Erisu moved smoothly to the woman's side and knelt on the mats beside her. "You're doing no such thing," she whispered sternly, adding, "I'm a medical ninja. If you're in pain I can help."

"You're a Hakuchō huh?" Yuki surveyed her thoughtfully. "You wouldn't happen to be a descendant of Someina-chan, would you?"

"She's my grandmother," Erisu replied softly, "you knew her?"

"We were teammates actually." Yuki made a grimacing attempt at a smile. "She always knew what I was feeling, how to cheer me up..." Her foggy eye held Erisu's steadily.

"It'll ruin him if I die," Yuki said gravely, "he'll blame himself... Don't let him blame himself."

"Kiyomi-san will take care of him," Erisu assured her, "don't you worry about him."

Then she signed her transference jutsu, hands lighting up with chakra, and placed her folded fingers against the woman's chest, sending her energy into her system to strengthen her. Yuki closed her eyes as Erisu assessed the extent of the damage, mending what she could and numbing what she couldn't. Yuki's heavy, rattling breaths eased slightly and she sighed in comfort. She couldn't save Yuki but she could help ease the pain.

As Erisu healed her she let her Himitsugan open and dissected the woman's fears, desires, and intentions. At last she pulled away and stood. Yuki was half asleep.

"Can you perform the Temple of Nirvana?" Yuki asked in a much clearer voice.

"It wouldn't be real," Erisu answered.

"I don't want real," Yuki grunted, "I want peace."

"I don't think Sota-san would appreciate it," Erisu said, "I doubt he'd want me to put you under genjutsu."

"Someina-chan would do it."

"I'm not her."

"No." Yuki x-rayed her with a watery eye. "You're not are you?" She sighed in defeat. "You look like her... But you've got Jun'ichi's colouring, probably his bullheadedness too"

Erisu said nothing, she'd done all she was willing to do. Placing the old woman under a genjutsu wasn't right, even if it might distract her from her pain. It would still be a lie and having eyes that perceived truth, even suppressed and secret truths, made her one who couldn't stand lies.

"Thank you for the card, Someina-chan," Yuki said as her eyelid drooped drowsily from the effects of the medical ninjutsu, "Sota would like it, he's a little weasel. I'll show it to him when he gets home from the Academy."

Not bothering to correct her, Erisu merely said, "you're welcome, Yuki-chan." Yuki's breaths deepened as she drifted to sleep and Erisu left the room.

She slunk silently down the hall until she caught sight of them. A smile played about her lips as she found them as she'd hoped they'd be, Kiyomi holding Sota in a comforting embrace. Erisu slipped past, nodding approvingly to a slightly flustered looking Kiyomi, and wordlessly departed. Once he was steadied again she'd discuss his mother's desires with him but for now her work was done. She wasn't the one Sota needed right then; Kiyomi could handle it from there.


	21. Chapter 19: Re: Romance

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

 ** _Re: Romance_**

~Erisu~

Kakashi had been hospitalized for a week and Kiyomi and Sota had mysteriously disappeared after the visit with Kobayashi Yuki. Team Gai was off on a mission and Harumi had been working overtime at the restaurant. Erisu found herself feeling detached and lonely as she leaned against a fence to watch the Konoha citizens go about their day to day business. Her muscles ached from over exercising and her breaths were even then causing stabbing pains from her training session with Yuma. Still angry, Erisu chose to avoid him yet again and take the day to recuperate. Armed but wearing a simple black dress instead of her usual combat gear, Erisu loitered in the market to get more accustomed to people. A stick of dango in one hand and the other twirling a lock of hair, she surveyed the fascinating diversity of Konohagakure alone. Snippets of conversations about the Kazekage and concerns about the building strength of the Akatsuki were whispered by shinobi and citizens alike. Everyone felt the growing threat. Erisu, however, was distracted by a personal problem. She'd been forced to increase the amount of pain killers and was still barely controlling the urge to scream from the agony caused by her cursed leg... She was brooding on this, worrying about the sudden rise in her symptoms, when a friendly bark caught her attention.

A massive white dog, the size of a small horse, was wagging his tail excitedly at her. Erisu's heart melted at the sight of the adorably fierce hound and she extended her hand for him to sniff.

"Well hello there!" She giggled as he licked her fingers, "aren't you beautiful!"

The dog lolled his tongue happily and she crouched in front of him, scratching behind his long floppy ears. His thick fur was silky but his huge body was bound with powerful muscles. This dog was a warrior. He whined and nuzzled her; she dropped to her knees and hugged his furry neck. Erisu kissed his long snout and he licked her cheek.

" _Kyaaa!_ " she squealed, laughing aloud as he pressed against her adoringly, "you're the best, but what's your name?"

"Akamaru," came a gruff voice from behind her.

Erisu rose and turned. Wild brown hair, sharp black eyes, and distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks: Inuzuka clan.

"Akamaru-chan," she cooed and the ninken wagged his tail more fiercely. Then she turned back to the teenaged boy and bowed.

"I'm Erisu," she said amiably, "Akamaru-chan is amazing."

"He sure is." He grinned, flashing prominent canines. "I'm Kiba, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she agreed and ran her fingers through Akamaru's thick creamy fur again.

Kiba's nose twitched and he cocked his eyebrow curiously. "Correct me if I'm wrong but you smell more like a cat person." She smiled, the Inuzuka were known for their keen animalistic fences.

"Generally," she admitted, staggering slightly as Akamaru sagged heavily against her legs, panting happily, "but I've always had a soft spot for great big dogs." Akamaru licked her hand and nudged her into petting him more, "especially cuddly ones," she added fondly as she patted him.

Kiba barked with laughter, folding his arms across his chest, "he's not normally so affectionate. But he sure seems to like you." Erisu bent over and touched noses with Akamaru, his enormous size made him all the more irresistible to her.

"Well I like you too," she murmured lovingly and he woofed in reply. Kiba sniggered and she wondered vaguely what the dog had said but was too infatuated with him to dwell on it.

"Y'know, I don't think I've seen you around before," Kiba leaned against the fence, arms crossed, "you new here?"

"Relatively," Erisu replied, glancing at his ninja headband, "I lived here several years ago but just recently came back to make Genin."

"Oh really?" He seemed to be emitting confidence and playfulness like a lamp, "well a lot of things have changed over the last couple years. Wanna grab a bite and I'll fill you in?"

"I'm sorry?"

"My treat," he added.

She made a spit second decision.

"I'm sorry..." She smiled apologetically. "I'm actually meeting someone."

"Is that so?" Kiba looked around crossly. "Well he's a lucky guy." Erisu, feeling guilty for lying, kissed the top of Akamaru's head to hide her expression.

"Yo," said a lazy voice that made Erisu's stomach flutter, "morning Kiba-san, Akamaru-san."

"Good morning Kakashi-sensei," replied Kiba respectfully. Akamaru barked in greeting. Erisu smiled up at her teacher coyly. He looked fully recovered, book in hand and his delightfully dishevelled hair flaming upwards from his headband. Relief and delight flooded her at the sight of him up and about.

"Ehh?" Kiba looked from Erisu to Kakashi and back again, "you didn't mean him did you?" He demanded, "he's way too old!" Kakashi scratched his cheek, slightly ruffled by this comment.

"Actually, Kiba-san, she's a student of mine," the jōnin said calmly.

Kiba smirked. "So I still have a chance then?"

"But she isn't as young as she looks," Kakashi added testily, "she's actually older than you."

Kiba blinked, not registering, then blatantly scanned Erisu's body, scowling in confusion.

"Well, we should be off," Kakashi said with his usual air of boredom, "see you around, Kiba-san, Akamaru-san." He waved and turned away, "come along, Risu-chan."

He said her name on a gentle breath, distinctly adding the cute honorific in an oddly intimate way. Erisu watched him wandering away nonchalantly then bowed to Kiba again.

"'Twas a pleasure to meet you Kiba-san," she kissed the dog's muzzle, "and you too, Akamaru-chan!" Then she hurried after her teacher, confused and embarrassed. She could feel Kiba's baffled expression following her and Kakashi until they rounded a corner and left his sight.

"Hmm," Kakashi's hands were deep in his pockets as Erisu fell into step on his right side, "does tamagoyaki and okayu sound good to you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Breakfast," he explained, "I've been on intravenous sustenance and liquids for far too long, I need something to eat. Join me?" Erisu smiled sheepishly, she didn't think there'd ever come a time when she could turn down an invitation from him.

"Sounds lovely," she murmured appreciatively.

His eye flickered to hers then back to the road.

"Thanks by the way," she added after a moment, "for coming to my rescue back there."

"No problem," he said simply, "but I'm a bit interested in why'd you lie to him in the first place."

Erisu looked over at him and saw that he was watching her closely from the corner of his eye.

"He's a decent kid, and a talented shinobi," Kakashi went on, "and you're young and free, why didn't you take him up on his offer?"

Erisu looked at the ground as she walked and replied quietly, "I guess he's just not my type."

"Oh?"

"I mean he seems nice enough but I got the impression that he's cocky and temperamental." She felt her face warming as she spoke. "He'd make a good comrade or friend but as far as a romantic relationship is concerned I'm just not interested." Kakashi was quiet for a while as they strolled along the deserted street.

"Why didn't you tell him that?"

"I lack a backbone in social situations," she confessed, "'tis something I'm working on. I guess one might say I'm a bit of a doormat." Kakashi nodded mutely in understanding. She felt she could tell him anything and he'd never judge her or misunderstand.

"Just out of curiosity," he said cooly, "what is your type?" Erisu eyed him incredulously, caught off guard, he was watching her sidelong and unwaveringly.

"Well, I'm attracted to intelligence above all else," she told him, "I don't like it when people are quick to anger or impatient. I like kindness, wit, and rationality." She thought for a moment. "Ooh and bookishness! I've always wanted to spend time with someone who shares my passion for literature."

"Well, I can see why Kiba-san didn't interest you," Kakashi chuckled.

Erisu smiled up at him and nodded, "besides he's way too young."

"Hm?"

"I'd prefer someone older than me with experience and wisdom." She blushed and looked away, suddenly feeling foolish.

"Oh really?" Kakashi said thoughtfully, his eye straight ahead, "interesting..."

They entered a comfortable little restaurant and settled at a table near the back, away from the other patrons. Kakashi ordered for them and reclined in his seat.

"Does this mean I'll get to see your face?" Erisu asked mischievously.

Kakashi made a confused noise.

"You have to take it off to eat, right," she pressed, smiling playfully, "so I'll be able to see what you look like."

He blinked distractedly, "my face?" He hadn't been listening.

Erisu scowled at him and he laughed good-naturedly.

"We'll see," he said mysteriously.

Erisu enjoyed the comfortable silence of his company for a while before speaking again.

"Has Team Kakashi returned from their mission?" She asked in an undertone, curious as to what Lee's message had been.

"Yes," he answered as he tore open the packaging of his chopsticks, "they found Sasuke."

She stared at him, struck speechless. Itachi's darling little brother found at last...

"And... Orochimaru-sama..?"

"I'm not really at liberty to discuss the details with you," he told her, "it's still rather secretive but I'll summarize what I can for you:

"They made contact with Sasori's informant who turned out to be a servant of Orochimaru-sama, a former leaf ninja named Kabuto-san. It was a trap intended for Sasori but the Team ended up engaging Kabuto-san and his master in combat," he hesitated just as he had in his retelling of the Suna mission and Erisu knew he was again willfully withholding information.

"...They managed to track Orochimaru-sama back to his temporary hideout where they found Sasuke," he continued quietly, "Sasuke attacked Naruto and apparently went in for the kill before being called off by Orochimaru-sama.

"They said they wanted to leave the Team alive to take out more Akatsuki members for them. Then they vanished and the Team returned home."

Erisu mauled this all over for a while, breaking down his words to read between the lines. So Orochimaru and Koniha faced a mutual enemy. That didn't surprise her, it was the vagueness of Kakashi's description of the team's fight with sasuke that was suspicious. They were a very powerful team. She already knew Yamato was a member of the Anbu for she'd encountered him during the Konoha Crush, Sakura was only chūnin rank but the prized pupil of Tsunade, Naruto was Jiraiya's student as well as a jinchuuriki, and that boy Sai...

"Is Sai-san a member of Roots?" She asked.

"Yes." Kakashi confirmed her suspicions. "That's right."

"Did Orochimaru-sama and his servant battle Team Kakashi at the hideout as well or was it Sasuke-san alone?"

"You always ask the right questions," he commented approvingly, "Sasuke has developed faster than I'd conceived possible."

"Forbidden jutsu and stimulants?"

"It's safe to assume so, yes."

Erisu broke her chopsticks apart and absently rubbed them together to smooth away the splinters.

"Uzamaki-san's training will be intensifying then?" She tried to keep her voice light although her insides were chilled with dread.

"Yeah," he paused as the waitress placed two steaming bowls of miso, rolled omelettes, done rice porridge, and a couple vegetable dishes before them. He waited until she'd retreated out of earshot before continuing, "I'm going to start overseeing him in the task of creating a unique jutsu for himself."

Erisu nodded in acknowledgement and prodded her food in a silent inspection for onions.

"Risu-chan..." The gentle nickname pulled her back. "...I'm still going to mentor you when I can."

She glanced up at him to find him watching her fixedly, his food untouched. Her gratitude towards him was something she wasn't equipped to express with words. Opening her mouth to thank him she found herself mute and opted for a nervous smile instead.

They ate in relative silence after that and although Erisu kept glancing over in hopes of seeing Kakashi's face his mask was always hiding it whenever she looked. She had the sneaking suspicion that he was using his Sharingan to predict when she'd look up. But even if she never saw his face, Erisu had no doubts that Kakashi would always be her favourite person.

~Kakashi~

It was a relief to be out of the hospital and free to stroll down the street with Erisu at his side. Content after a satisfying breakfast with his prized pupil and enjoying the time apart from the overly eager Naruto, Kakashi and Erisu headed instinctively towards the library. Erisu deposited a book into the drop box near the door and they loitered in the front lot.

"I took out Icha-Icha Paradise yesterday," Erisu told Kakashi with an impish grin.

"You didn't," his voice was sharp, a warning.

She held up a copy of the raunchy adult novel series Kakashi adored and waved it about teasingly.

"You can't read that, Risu-chan," his said agitatedly, "I don't think it's your style."

"I've read romances before, I think I can handle it."

"Have you read any of the Icha Icha books before?"

"Well-no..."

"You won't like it, seriously."

"Erisu-chan!" Yuma stepped into view with an obviously false grin of delighted surprise plastered on his face. "I didn't expect to find you here!"

"Really?" Her eyes flicked uncertainly towards the library, "I practically live here."

"Good afternoon, Kakashi-senpai," he deflected her with subject change, "how're you doing?"

"I'm fine, Yuma-san," Kakashi replied curtly, "and you?"

"Great! I'm great! What are you two up to?"

Kakashi answered, "discussing novel genres, care to join us?" He eloquently placed the challenge. Anyone who knew Yuma was fully aware that he hated reading. But Kakashi was interested to know how far he'd go to have a common ground with Erisu. He was certain the other jōnin had been stalking them.

"Sure!" Yuma said in a disturbingly friendly manner, "what are you guys into?"

"We were debating wether I'd enjoy Icha-Icha or not," Erisu told him, though her eyes were on Kakashi.

Aware that Erisu had been skipping her lessons with the Hyūga, Kakashi knew that Erisu's polite expression was concealing her lingering resentment towards him.

"Icha-Icha," Yuma repeated with a haughty sniff, "isn't that a bit mature for you?"

Erisu sighed and seemed to be struggling not to roll her eyes. "Do I have a face that says 'immature' on it?"

"Well, yeah," Yuma said tactlessly. Erisu's cheeks flushed with anger. She opened her mouth then seemed to decide otherwise and closed it again.

"I'd prefer to read history anyways," she dropped her eyes, self esteem lowered lowered, "I should be studying more useful things. Romance isn't my cup of tea, so to speak."

"You have a very romantic heart," Kakashi said quietly, "the truth is I'm just a little embarrassed of my own interest in the series. You read whatever you enjoy, Risu. We didn't mean to tell you what to do."

She smiled at him gratefully and Yuma clenched his jaw furiously, pale eyes flickering between them fire white hot jealousy.

"So history," Yuma piped up and Erisu looked at him with round eyes, as if she'd only just noticed him, "what aspects of history do you like most?"

"Oh everything," she answered earnestly, "I find the political maneuvers that lead to alliances and wars intriguing, and how the social class differences can cause poverty, famine, and the stereotyping of gender and race. But lately I've been doing a lot of reading into the history of the last couple decades. Especially in regards to technology, scientific development, recent breakthroughs in agriculture and the revolutions in the fields of medicine."

"Me too," he agreed enthusiastically, with no idea what she'd just said. Kakashi muttered something under his breath but masked it with a cough.

"Really?" She looked hopeful. "What's your opinion on the recent research into designing a robust, fault-tolerant communication via computer networks?"

Yuma stared at her blankly. "I don't like the idea of faults."

"I've been following the progress of the global network as well," Kakashi said lazily, "the interconnection of regional academic networks in the most recent study marks the beginning of the transition into a globalized network that could connect the entire shinobi world. I definitely encourage it and hope to see sustained exponential growth in the years to come."

Kakashi was glad that his smug smile was hidden as Yuma glared at him in fury. Yuma was out of his element, having only barely studied enough to squeeze through his exams. Erisu's eyes lit up and she started debating with Kakashi animatedly in words that Yuma wouldn't understand.

"...it wouldn't just mean faster communication though," Erisu was saying now, "it would enable new forms of social interaction, activities, and social associations. We might even be able to store information virtually which would greatly decrease our carbon footprint in the sense that we'd cut back on paper waste..."

Yuma sank back as Kakashi encouraged Erisu's now exuberant theories about this revolutionary new technology. Yuma was clearly hoping for the chance to change the subject to something he was more familiar with. But Kakashi lead Erisu into a conversation about the inner workings of new computer interfaces and Yuma became completely, and very obviously, lost.

"What's wrong with filing systems and carrier birds?" He asked during a brief moment of silence between increasingly complicated topics, "I mean, we've done just fine till now right?"

"Economic growth and scientific advancements are necessary if our society is to develop," Erisu told him, confused as to why he couldn't understand this.

Yuma's cheeks blotched with red embarrassment. "Well of course," he said in a brave attempt at superiority.

"It just occurred to me that I forgot to ask what you're doing here, Yuma-senpai," she said it kindly enough, but he was visibly stung none the less.

"I was looking for you, actually," he said, with a slightly harassed glance at Kakashi who was observing him silently and barely resisting the desire to stab him.

"What do you need?" She asked and Kakashi knew what Yuma wanted. Was he really going to try to ask Erisu out only two days after puncturing her lung?

"I was wondering if you'd like to..." Kakashi's cold grey eye bore into him and he lost his nerve, "...discuss a new training regimen with me."

Her brows knitted incredulously. "I training regimen? E-eto... I suppose...?" Her eyes darted to Kakashi then back to him. "...now?"

"Yes now," Yuma snapped, "I'm your sensei aren't I?"

"Actually, as it happens, you're not," Kakashi told him coldly, "I'm sure you've noticed that I'm out of the hospital?"

Yuma gnashed his teeth. "I noticed."

"Well then you should be able to deduce that you're no longer needed to oversee Erisu's training." Lightning flashed between their eyes. "I'll be continuing Erisu's classes on aikido and jujitsu myself."

"Really?" His voice was dripping with malice. "And are you going to take her out for more meals as well?"

Kakashi blinked calmly and said, with a voice like steel, "I'm not required to disclose that to you." He caught Erisu's wrist and started leading her away. "See you, Yuma."

Erisu looked anxiously back at the dark haired man but said nothing as she hurried along beside Kakashi and away from the library.

Kakashi walked Erisu home with little speaking after that and, with some remorse, bid her farewell. If he knew Yuma, and he did, then he knew that he'd be going to go straight to Tsunade to request Erisu again. He had no choice now, he had to face the possibility that Tsunade might allow it and all he could do was try and convince her otherwise. Something told him that the Hokage would agree that Erisu should be doing real team missions but he couldn't bear the prospect of Yuma in an authoritarian position over the gentle and manipulative girl. Yuma would certainly abide his position and Erisu, being as passive as she was, would feel obligated to comply with his wishes...

~Erisu~

Erisu sidled into the booth and lowered herself onto the cushion with a sigh of exhaustion later that evening.

"Long day?" Harumi asked sympathetically as she poured them some tea.

"Yeah," Erisu took a cup gratefully and downed it in one parched swig, not caring to describe the scene with Yuma.

"Well they call him Rekeitsu-Kakashi for a reason," Harumi smirked, "he's barely passed a single genin put in his charge. He's known for his brutal training techniques."

Erisu refilled her cup thoughtfully, reflecting on her first session with Kakashi since he'd left for Sunagakure. "He's a tough mentor but he isn't unkind."

"Really?" Harumi started on her miso but watched Erisu carefully with her chocolate eyes, "he's always scared me personally, faceless and emotionless."

"On the contrary, he's absolutely brilliant, I can't imagine what his IQ is," Erisu smiled to herself, "and he's so patient, calm, and..." She trailed off as she recalled the sweet smell of cemetery flowers on his skin. She sucked absently on her chopsticks, eyes out of focus.

"Erisurin?" Harumi tilted her head curiously, "you're spacing out."

"Sorry," Erisu sat up straighter, "just lost in thought I guess."

"I saw you and Kakashi-senpai in the market," Harumi commented, "was that part of your training?"

"Oh yeah, we were getting breakfast actually."

"He takes you out for meals?" The words were sodden in suggestiveness. " _Alone?_ "

"No," she said hastily, "he'd just gotten out of the hospital and we bumped into each other, that's all. Besides, teachers often treat their students to a meal."

"Have you eaten together other than that time?" Harumi pressed.

"A couple times," Erisu confessed, "after a particularly gruelling training session or when he'd been gone for a while." Harumi was even pushier than Kiyomi!

"How many times?"

"About five times, I guess?"

"Five times?" Harumi grinned, "five meals together in what, a month?"

"Now whatever you're implying..." Erisu began warningly.

"I'm not implying anything." Her friend laughed. "But if you've eaten with him you must've seen his face, right?"

"No, I haven't," Erisu smiled despite herself, "he eats when I'm not looking, practically inhales his food. Maybe he has a vacuum for a mouth?"

They imagined absurd facial features hidden under Kakashi's mask, until the waitress brought their meals.

"Honestly though," Harumi mumbled around a mouthful of gyoza, "what's he like?"

Erisu shrugged, "it's like I said, he's really relaxed and collected, almost bored." She thought for a moment. "He's subtlety humorous, you have to read between the lines to get his jokes but once you get to know him he's quite hilarious, and incomparably kind."

"Kakashi-senpai?" Harumi specified.

"Yes," Erisu answered with mild annoyance, "he gave me a chance when I didn't deserve it, put in a word for me to Tsunade-sama that made becoming a ninja possible, and he's now training me personally despite his other responsibilities. And," she hesitated, "he saved my life during the Kyūbi attack. I'm indebted to him."

"He owes you too," Harumi pointed out, "if you hadn't been nearby when he'd been poisoned he would've most likely died."

Erisu hadn't considered this. She'd healed him because it was quite plainly the right thing to do. It was only a coincidence that she'd happened upon him in the woods that day. She wondered if he thought he owed her his life.

"So what does your training consist of?" Harumi asked, "he must not have much time to train you what with being one of the most powerful jōnin in the village, and captain of his own team. I bet he's always off on S ranked missions."

"Sparring mostly. He's picked up where Yuma-senpai left off in Aikido," Erisu replied, "my ninjutsu and genjutsu are both acceptable for my level so he's been giving me practical battle practice."

"Do you grapple?" Harumi winked.

Erisu sighed. It was impossible to have a conversation with Harumi without sexual innuendos, but at least she wasn't cruel about it like Yuma.

"I'm sorry," the dark haired girl started into her donburi, "I know there's nothing between you, he's like what, twice our age?"

"Ten years older," Erisu corrected a little sharper than she'd intended, "he's twenty nine."

Harumi nodded, mouth full, then she swallowed and said: "well who is it that you're into then?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh come on, it's obvious! You've been in a dreamy trance for weeks!"

"I'm not interested in anyone," she replied flatly, "romance is nice in theory but in practice it's not worth the heartache. I'd greatly prefer a cup of tea and a good book."

"Erisurin," Harumi fixed her with those molten cocoa eyes, "I'm your best friend; I can tell when you're lying."

Erisu examined her yakisoba carefully, "well if I'm in love with someone it's news to me." Then she sat up abruptly in revulsion.

"What's the matter?" Harumi asked in concern.

" _Onions_ ," Erisu hissed disdainfully, "I specifically asked for no onions! But this is riddled with them!"

"I'll flag down the waitress-"

"No don't!" Erisu stopped her from raising her hand, "I don't want to be rude!"

Harumi was accustomed to Erisu's social anxiety and started moving the onions onto her own plate instead. "I'll eat them," she decided calmly, "hand them over."

When the girls had finished their meal Erisu accompanied Haruki down the deserted street. The sun had set and a lens of twilight tinted Konoha in silver.

"You would tell me if you became involved with someone right?" Harumi asked as they strolled across a bridge. Below them the Naka River glittered like a liquid snake, winding through the deepening shadows.

"Of course I would," Erisu assured her friend, "but you'd probably know before me anyways. I'm more clueless about myself than a perfect stranger."

"Yo, Risu," came a deep leisurely voice from above. Her insides contracted as she spotted her sensei perched on a rooftop. He dropped to the ground in front of them, book in hand.

"Kakashi-sensei," she bowed a little deeper than necessary, then gestured to her companion, "this is my friend, Kita Harumi." Harumi bowed politely which Kakashi returned with a curt nod.

"I'm glad I caught you," he said to Erisu, "I was just at your apartment but you weren't home."

Erisu was painfully aware of Harumi ogling them. "What do you need, O-sama?"

"I want you to meet me at the main gates tomorrow morning at eight am," he told her, "we're embarking on an A ranked mission that should last about two days or so."

"A ranked?" She echoed trepidatiously, "but that's for chūnin rank or higher."

"You'll do fine," he assured her with a dismissive wave of his hand. When she opened her mouth to argue he added, " _seriously_."

"Yes, sensei,." She averted her eyes to hide her budding anxiety. "Will others be accompanying us?"

"Team Gai will rendezvous with us on the second day," he said, eye drifting lazily over the page of his book, "I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow."

Erisu nodded in understanding.

"And pack a complete medical kit, Team Gai doesn't have a medical-nin so you'll be the mission's sole medic."

"Anything else I should pack in particular?" She asked.

"Basic camping gear," he told her, "but keep it light."

"I understand, O-sama."

"Good," he started to walk away then glanced over his shoulder with an embarrassed smile, hand in his gleaming hair, "be sure not to mention this to Naruto, I'm supposed to be training him. If he finds out he might follow us."

Erisu grinned as she pictured the incredulous rage on Naruto's face if he found out Kakashi was leaving for a couple days.

"It was nice meeting you, Harumi-san," he called as he strolled away, "goodnight Risu." Once he'd disappeared into the darkness the girls continued their walk.

"He's really cool," Harumi commented, with a nervous glance backwards, "in a kind of detached and mysterious way. I guess I can see why you like him so much.

"And what's with skipping your honorific?" Harumi added in a low voice, "Are you two that close?"

"Yeah," Erisu answered without hearing, her thoughts drifting to when he'd called her Risu-chan in front of Kiba and her stomach spasmed bizarrely.

After Erisu gave her spare key to Harumi (so she could care for the cats while Erisu was away) they hugged goodbye at Harumi's apartment building and Erisu headed off on her own. She hadn't gone far when she became aware of a presence shadowing her. She halted and faced her pursuer, hand readied above her kunai holster.

"Yo." Kakashi materialized in the lamplight, hair white in the golden glow. "I wanted to talk to you more but couldn't in front of your friend."

Erisu's face warmed as she realized he'd been following her. He sauntered over to her side, hands in his pockets, and they walked together through the sleeping village.

"You and I are to locate an individual who claims to have inside information on the Akatsuki," he told her quietly, "Team Gai will join us for the return journey to help guard the informant."

Erisu nodded in silent response, wondering why she felt disappointed.

"It's a two day journey, even at top speed, both ways," he looked at her from the corner of his eye, "do you understand?"

"Yes," she answered, "so I should be fully armed."

"Exactly," he agreed, "it's uncertain whether the Akatsuki knows about this mole or not so we can't tell whether we'll be attacked. We're to meet them two days from now at ten pm on the Kappa Bridge. The informant's name and appearance haven't been disclosed for their safety but they'll identify themselves by signalling boar and dog. Anonymity is essential so pack nondescript civilian clothing to remain undercover."

"Sensei, why are you and I going? Surely another team could be dispatched since you're training Uzamaki-san?"

He looked away, "Yamato can oversee his training at this point and I want to test you on a higher level mission."

Unease prickled inside her. "Why's that?"

"The truth is I don't have much time to spare for your training anymore," he told her, "and even though you've yet to compete in the chūnin exams I consider you higher than genin. You handled yourself well on patrol with Team Yuma and..." He exhaled deeply. "...it's about time you were assigned to a team and deployed on higher ranked missions."

Erisu couldn't believe her ears. "But most genin stay under the tutelage of one master for at least a year before advancing to a chūnin level team!"

"As I've said before: you're a unique case," he said stiffly, "your skills are already at least chūnin level of not specialized jōnin. We need to speed things up."

Erisu thought rapidly about what she'd done to make Kakashi no longer want to train her, distress rose in her chest.

Seeming to read her thoughts he said, "this has nothing to do with me not wanting to train you personally," then he added more gently, "in fact you're a much better student than Naruto," he chuckled, "that kid needs everything to be taught to him so painstakingly slow. But due to the Akatsuki threat against him, I have to make him my priority."

Erisu understood perfectly but it didn't lessen the intense feeling of loss.

"Considering that you have such a variety of skills you now have a broad spectrum of available career paths. Considering your skill in medical ninjutsu you could pursue a career in hospice but with your empathic and genjutsu talents I'd recommend you join an Interrogation or Intelligence Task Force."

But Erisu wasn't listening anymore, her heart had started to race. Kakashi was the highlight of her life, if she no longer had her time with him to look forwards to-

Her leg buckled and she fell forward. Kakashi caught her, eye concerned. Pain raced through her veins like acid and she felt as though she might pass out.

"Are you alright, Risu-chan?" He asked in a hushed voice.

She forced herself to stand independently, her leg shook violently and she staggered back against him. Terror gripped her as her breaths became short and shallow. This shouldn't be happening for at least a year...

"Risu-chan," his deep voice broke through her panic and he gripped her shoulders to steady her, "what's wrong?"

"I must've pushed myself too hard during training," she murmured feebly, vision distorted and pixilating, "I'll be fine." She tried again to pull away but only collapsed back into his arms, blind. She could feel herself trembling violently as Kakashi pulled her into his arms. Her ears were humming, deafening her and all warmth had drained from her body.

"Cmon," he said so gently he didn't even sound like himself, "you need to lay down."

"Risu-chan," came a muffled voice from beyond, " _Risu!_ Hey, wake up!" She was jarred awake by some unknown force shaking her shoulders.

 _"Emi-chan, NO!"_ She shrieked, sitting up abruptly. She looked into the concerned eyes of Kakashi, mismatched, concrete and crimson. She was laying on an unfamiliar bed, supported by his warm gloved hands. Confused and groggy she looked around the room. It was decorated with abstract paintings, photographs, and bookshelves. Was this Kakashi's bedroom?

"What happened? Where am I?" She muttered, sitting up fully and shaking her head.

"You passed out. I brought you to my place," he answered, hand still on the small of her back, "are you alright? How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she lied, "I just had a spell is all. I must've depleted my stamina."

"You fainted," he said, unconvinced, "does that happen often?"

"No." She hated being dishonest, particularly to him. "But I'm alright, really. What time is it? I have to pack." She gently brushed him away and swung her legs over the side of the bed, but Kakashi clasped his long fingers on her shoulder and turned her to face him.

He pulled his headband down and said: "Erisu," his voice stern, "you can tell me what's wrong, seriously."

She stared into that piercing pool of quicksilver and considered confiding the truth. If he was aware of the full extent of her illness, if he knew about the curse, he would drop her as a student and inform Tsunade-hime... But the Hokage couldn't help her-only one person could. One person, who wouldn't save her if their own life was in peril.

"I have anemia," she told him, it wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth, "I didn't want to bring it up being as shinobi are supposed to stay in perfect health. I've been taking supplements but sometimes I don't get enough oxygen and faint."

He was satisfied. "Are you well enough for the mission? There'll most likely be combat and I can't have you compromised."

"I won't fail you, sensei," she told him professionally and meant every word, "I'm a medical ninja and know how to manage my deficiency effectively. I dropped the ball today but I assure you it won't happen again."

He dipped his head in acknowledgement, "alright, Erisu." She attempted to stand again but he caught her hand, eyes gentle. "Don't push yourself so hard, even your chakra has a limit."

She held his gaze for a moment and her heart palpated disconcertingly (must be from the dizziness), then she pulled free from his grasp and rose silently from the bed. Back to Kakashi, Erisu blinked away the tears of pain and breathed shakily. Her innards were in a flurry of chaotic spasming and her heart was still racing. These new symptoms were greatly unnerving and she desperately wanted this giddy sensation to end. Why did her symptoms worsen in the presence of her sensei?

"Risu-chan?" Kakashi repeated before she'd realized he'd spoken at all. He was standing behind her in the dimly lit room, and though they weren't physically touching she could feel him-like static on her skin. "Risu..." His voice faltered uncertainly but she couldn't face him, eyes glistening with restrained tears, "...you're crying."

She straightened her spine and set her jaw determinedly, lies were her life now. "Sorry." She faced him, expression neutral. "Due to my Himitsugan my eyes are very sensitive and water easily."

"I see." He didn't believe her but voiced no argument. "Can you get home alright?"

Could she? Panic flickered briefly in her chest as she imagined herself passed out in the streets. "Of course," she replied with a smile and a bow, "thank you for everything, Kakashi-sensei, and sorry for the trouble I caused. I'll see you first thing tomorrow."

He blinked, his cold grey eye missing nothing, and nodded politely.

He walked her to the door and Erisu ventured into the night alone.


	22. Chapter 20: Deception and Desire

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

 ** _Deception and Desire_**

~Kakashi~

The sun still hadn't risen when Kakashi made his way to the cemetery early the following morning. His thoughts were on Erisu, concerned by her fainting episode. He had a resolute suspicion that she hadn't been entirely honest about the cause, and he worried that she might not be well enough for the mission ahead of them.

He hadn't seen her engage in real combat yet and was now concerned she might not be capable but there was no more time to waste. The fact of the matter was that he couldn't while away his hours with her, however much he may want to, Naruto needed to be able to face the threat that was forming on the horizon. Now that the Akatsuki had figured out how to extract the Tailed Beasts it was only a matter of time before they came for the Kyūbi. And now that they had glimpsed just how superior Sasuke's skills had become, the pressure for Naruto to improve had never been as high.

Yes, Erisu had to move on.

His thoughts dwelled on her again. Brooding thoughts though they may be, they were still distraction from his usual regret regarding Sasuke. He had noticed how she maintained a polite demeanour despite the snippets of inner turmoil she'd occasionally let slip to him and suspected that she was a talented actor. He'd chosen this mission specifically to test that, if his hypothesis was correct then an alternative career option might be apparent. A career where she shouldn't have to report to Yuma, one where Kakashi himself had once thrived in and would greatly support ... he intended to groom her for the Anbu.

For a fleeting moment he imagined him and Erisu masked and partnered as they embarked on secretive missions in the night. They would have made an unstoppable pair, he was certain. Not only was her long range genjutsu a perfect match for his close combat ninjutsu, but her mind was equally keen and her morals perfectly aligned. He preposed that they'd never have needed to debate on a decision and that he'd always be able to trust her to have his back. It would have been perfect: him and Erisu collecting information and disposing of targets with all the time in the world to debate and philosophize. Two solitary intellectuals who valued the safety of their loved ones above all else paired together in silent secrecy... If she'd been in the Anbu at the same time as him he might not have left the organization. But then, he wasn't sure whether she would've been as interested in the cold blooded boy he used to be.

Kakashi knelt to clear away the leaves that'd settled on Rin's grave and set a bouquet of chrysanthemums on the smooth, polished stone.

"I wish you were here Rin," he whispered, "I need to know if what I'm feeling is real." He stood slowly, eye fixed on her name. "My comrades have helped to fill the void but I'm still..." He sighed, "this hasn't happened before, not like this, and I'm not sure if it's real... I need to be focusing on the task at hand: training Naruto and defeating the Akatsuki. I don't have time for distractions... but I can't just let it slip away... can I?" He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head in humourless wonder, "I picked the worst time to fall in love."

Erisu was already at the gates when Kakashi arrived, his rucksack fully equipped with camping gear. She was rocking on her heels, humming to herself and gazing skyward at a swirling flock of birds. Her face lit up when she spotted him and she bent into a deep bow.

"Good morning, O-sama," she sang cheerfully, "ready to get going?"

"Yeah." He knitted his brows, still unnerved that she addressed him with equal respect as the Hokage. But she was always incredibly polite to everyone from jōnin to janitors, so he tried not to read too far into it.

"Excellent," her voice was hushed with thinly concealed excitement, "adventure awaits."

They set off at a brisk pace, the sun peeking through the trees and casting long shadows across the road.

"How come shinobi don't travel on horseback, O-sama?" She asked randomly, "horse drawn carts are common outside of Konoha but are rarely found within the walls."

"It's more cost effective to move on foot," he replied, "fully trained ninja move nearly as fast as horses, even through the dense forests where mounts struggle. The cost of breeding, feeding, and housing horses, only for them to be lost in battle where they'd inevitably be targeted, would be a substantial drain on Konoha's resources."

"Perfectly sound reasoning," she nodded approvingly, "Exactly how far do we intend to travel today, sir?"

He glanced sidelong at her. Was she being more formal and professional than usual?

"Our destination is Mizūmi no Machi, located on Demon Lake in the Land of Rivers," he told her, pulling out his map and pointing out their route, "we're to keep to the road, apparently the forests in this area are full of bandits."

"Understood," she turned her pretty face back to the road ahead. Was she purposely avoiding eye contact?

"Risu," he kept his tone casual, "have you recovered from your.. Episode last night?"

"Oh yes," she turned her face to him, eyes closed in a smile, "all I needed was a good night's rest. I appreciate your concern though, sensei."

They kept to the road, heading northeast, in relative silence after that. He was growing more and more detain that she was withholding something from him but chose not to push the subject further.

The temperature was steadily climbing as they neared the border and Kakashi noticed Erisu wiping her forehead as though she were sweating, but there was no visible perspiration.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, sir," she rubbed her face again, "hot isn't it?"

He regarded her suspiciously; it wasn't uncomfortably warm.

He stopped abruptly and fixed her with a hard stare.

"Erisu, are you sure that you're well?" He kept his voice detached but was growing more on edge.

She hesitated and he was certain she was going to confess what had been ailing her but then she shrugged him off.

"I lived up north for many years," she explained lightly, "I'm still not fully accustomed to the humidity of the Land of Fire."

"You're lying." He said bluntly.

She paused, gazing up at him sceptically with those misty blue eyes, "I am."

"So?" He prompted, "the truth."

"Due to my low hemoglobin I don't get adequate-"

"I said truth."

"My body isn't very good at regulating its internal temperature-"

" _Erisu_."

"Fine," she snapped, refusing to look at him, "I'm ill alright?"

He braced himself, "how ill?"

"Not seriously. "She shook her unkept hair and glared at a bird shuffling through the undergrowth. "I'm just a little weaker than usual. But I've taken some stimulants and food pills to compensate, can we continue now?"

"Can you handle the mission?" He pressed, "cause I can't have you-"

"Compromised, yes you've said." She still wouldn't look at him. "Don't worry, O-sama, I won't put the mission in jeopardy."

They stood in silence for a moment as he turned it all over in his mind, considering whether he should try to get more out of her. She was a very capable medical ninja who was well versed in all manners of pharmaceuticals, she could identify a poison by taste alone after all. He chose to trust her judgement.

"Alright, let's go."

She was visibly relieved and hurried onward, eyes straight ahead. Kakashi was still certain that she hadn't been completely honest, but as the river came into sight he put it out of his mind.

"Tis rather ironic," Erisu mused as the road travelled alongside the roaring rapids, "my chakra nature is water oriented but I've a terrible fear of drowning."

"Why?" Kakashi asked, watching her half skip beside him, "you'll never drown when you can walk on water."

"I never learned how to walk on water," she answered, inattentively stroking the reeds beside her, "I've always fantasized about running on the surface of the water like some sort of nymph..."

"A nymph?" He smiled despite himself, she was always so poetic and romantic, "maybe when I'm done with Naruto I'll teach you."

She looked up at him, starry-eyed, "I'd love that." He held her gaze for a moment, distracted by her demure smile. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

"We're being followed," she informed him whilst maintaining an air of nonchalance, "across the river. They're camouflaged but I can still detect their bloodlust. I doubt their just thieves because they intend to kill us."

"How many?" He asked in a low voice, eye glancing over the opposite bank.

"Five men. Two are afraid of you and one..." Her eyes betrayed a flicker of fear. "...one wants to.. harm me."

Understanding her meaning he clenched his jaw furiously.

"On my signal," he murmured darkly.

"Yes, sir."

He continued until the river widened into a deep gulley, the water frothing between the rocks below. He had to keep them at a disadvantage by maintaining the high ground. The treetops across the river trembled under the weight of their invisible stalkers.

In a heartbeat he'd nodded to Erisu and pulled back his headband, firing a flurry of kunai into the trees.

Erisu simultaneously back flipped away from the water's edge, evading their enemies' shuriken.

Five unmarked men, masked and heavily armed, leapt from the forest.

They cleared the ravine in a bound and battle ensued.

They were outnumbered but their opponents were lower on the rocky bank. Time was seemingly slowed through Kakashi's copy wheel eye and he picked apart his enemies in an instant. They weren't bandits, their camouflage jutsu and heavy armada of weaponry betrayed their shinobi training. They were unmarked and, he determined from their uncertain footwork, not local. Two to five, it was going to be a bloodbath.

Two hulking men lunged for tiny, defenceless Erisu. He charged to her aid but was intercepted by the other three, surrounded. A blinding white light consumed them and Kakashi froze, disoriented. Flash bomb.

He took advantage of the confusion and conjured a shadow clone, leaping away from the fray. They needed a strategy.

Perched in an ancient oak bordering the road, he scoped out the area. Erisu was weaving between the five rogues with astounding finesse. Yuma's training in Aikido had payed off. Kakashi's doppelgänger had disabled one foe with a merciless stab to the jugular and was now on the defensive against two of the brutes.

Erisu dropped into a sprawl, arched her spine and flipped onto her hands, her foot connecting with a masked face as she snapped into a lethal split. Her flexibility impressed him.

His clone burst into smoke as it was cleaved in half by a katana. Damn.

Then, to Kakashi's surprise, Erisu burst into smoke as she was cut down as well.. Of course, her mind worked the same way his did, but then where was she?

"Sensei," she materialized beside him, startling him.

"How'd you-?" No one could sneak up on him.

"You think too loud," her pink eyes were analyzing the rogues, now back to back below them.

They'd defeated his clone in a matter of moments, despite it not being the true Kakashi it still had all his capabilities. These were clearly not average highwaymen, they were jōnin rank or higher.

Kakashi decided they'd need to even the playing field if they were to stand a chance. He glanced at Erisu, she understood immediately what he intended to do and positioned herself to spot for him.

He whipped several summoning scrolls from his flak jacket as Erisu leapt to the opposite side of the road and delayed their attackers with a smoke bomb.

 _Ne Ushi Tora U Tatsu Me Uma Hitsuji Saru Tori Inu I_

He streaked blood across the contracts and brought forth his hounds.

The dogs manifested from thin air, poised and bristling in the branches. He signalled and they went in for the kill.

Suddenly Erisu cried out and fell from her hiding place. Kakashi burst from the canopy without thinking and caught her before she hit the ground. She quickly tugged a handful of throwing needles from her shoulder.

"Neurotoxins!" She gasped, " _your ninken!_ "

Kakashi snapped his head round to see Bull collapse from the poison. Erisu pushed him away and started rummaging through her med-kit for an antidote. The rogues were distracted by the ninken pack but the hounds had no idea about the poison.

Kakashi sped towards the chaos, shouting to call off his hounds before it was too late. Confused, they fell back. Pakkun's glossy fur was on end as he barred his fangs. Everyone was still. For a few moments there was complete silence.

Bull was panting at the feet of the tallest rogue, unable to stand.

"Sexy little thing, that partner of yours," the tallest of the rogues drawled, "how bout you hand her over and we'll let the doggy live, being as you're so worried about em and all." Kakashi stared unblinkingly at the four rouges.

"Boss," wheezed Bull, his massive body trembling as he tried vainly to stand.

"Retreat," Kakashi ordered the ninken in a cold voice.

"Not so fast," the rogue pressed the narrow blade of his katana to the bull mastiff's throat, "I said I'd let your doggy go if you give me the girl."

"Get your filthy paws off him!" Barked Biscuit in rage, starting towards the rogue.

"Stand down," Kakashi warned. Bull's muzzle was wet with drool, foam lining his rubbery black lips, and his jaw sagged. The poison was killing him. Biscuit narrowed his eyes furiously but obeyed.

Kakashi was going to have to negotiate if he wanted Bull to get out of there alive. On either side of him the ninken were tensed and battle ready, ears flat against their head. The whole pack was itching to bury their fangs in that man's flesh.

"I want the girl," the rogue insisted in a deep droning voice.

"Why?" Kakashi kept his voice even despite his growing anger.

"It's been ages since we've seen something so sweet and fresh," he replied monotonously, blood trickled down Bull's dark fur as the katana slowly pressed deeper into his neck, "I'm thinking we'd all have a couple goes on her before she passed out, what d'ya think boys?" The other ninjas chuckled maliciously. This must be the man Erisu had sensed wanted to harm her specifically.

"Alright," Erisu spoke up, she was at Kakashi's right shoulder now. She must've administered the antidote for she was quite steady, "release the hound and maybe I'll give you a taste."

Her voice sounded smooth and sexy, but Kakashi picked up the undertones of fury. They were using Bull as leverage and she was out for blood. She undid her obi, letting her black kimono slide off her shoulders and billow about her like a cape. Her chain mail was tailored expertly to her lithe body, making her torso look shimmery like a metallic viper. Kakashi watched in unbelieving astonishment as Erisu slunk forward with all the grace of a tiger. She stopped, a metre away from the rouges and gestured calmly towards Bull, limp and lethargic at the lustful man's feet.

"Release the hound and I'll give you the time of your life." He'd never heard her voice sound so seductive.

The rogue withdrew his sword and kicked Bull forward. The dog dragged himself past Erisu and vanished into smoke. She flipped her silvery blonde hair and cast a casual glance over her shoulder at Kakashi. She winked.

Then the blood vessels in her eyes burst and she fixed the man with a petrifying stare. Her pearly pink irises expanded over her whites, nearly black with blood, and her pupils retracted to mere specks. The man froze, body stiff as stone. The other rogues exchanged confused looks, unsure whether to intervene.

Then blood started streaming from their leader's eyes, cascading over his mask and he uttered an inhuman scream. He seized up, convulsing as he collapsed, writhing and jabbering on the ground.

The other three men looked on in horror, too dumbfounded to react. Kakashi and the pack attacked. Without their leader, the rogue ninjas had become disorganized and confused. One turned to flee but the dogs overtook him, mauling without remorse. Kakashi ran his opponent through with his chidori but was grazed by his bladed brass knuckles the process.

"You stupid little bitch!" Snarled the last rogue, he had Erisu backed up on the brink of the gorge, "what'd you do to the boss?"

"He got what he deserved," she answered pitilessly, "leave him to his nightmares."

"You're the _Ninja of Nightmares!_ " He spat, pointing a serrated, double bladed sword at her throat. "you're the little Hakuchō/Yamanaka cross that killed Miwa-san aren't you?"

Erisu went still, face white. "I'm sorry?"

"You should've thought twice before crossing a servant of Orochimaru-sama!" He brought his savage sword down, Kakashi raced forward but wasn't fast enough.

Erisu shrieked as her rucksack was cleaved from her back, supplies showering into the ravine. Blood spurted from her shoulder and her arm hung uselessly at her side. She teetered on the edge for a second, eyes wide in surprise, then fell over the cliff. The rogue ninja turned his cruel eyes on Kakashi as the Copy Ninja charged at him, screeching blue electricity climbing his arm.

"The bitch asked for it," he told Kakashi.

Kakashi slashed his head clean off in cold blood. The chidori blackening the stump of his neck as the body crumpled in a heap, head rolling across the road. Kakashi stared over the edge of the gorge but saw only foaming rapids; there was no sign of Erisu.

He turned on his dogs in panic driven fury. " _Find her!_ "

"Boss..." Biscuit was bleeding heavily from the flank, oily toxins matting his fur. "We have no chakra."

"Fine." Kakashi turned his eyes back to the river. "You're dismissed, I'll do it myself." All the hounds but Pakkun retreated and he and Kakashi set off down the precarious slope towards the thrashing river.

Focussing his chakra to maintain his balance on the unsteady gravel of the cliff side, Kakashi hurried towards the water's edge. It was hard enough to keep steady on a smooth body of water, the river would be impossible.

"Erisu!" He bellowed over the roaring of the rapids, " _Erisu!_ "

"Boss." Pakkun had leapt onto a glistening precipice of rock, reddened with blood. "I think she was washed downstream!"

"Dammit!" He forced himself to calm down and think clearly. The water was speeding by, swirling and smashing against the jagged rocks. There was likely an undertow and he had no idea how seriously injured she was. She could've landed on the rocks when she fell.

" _Dammit!_ " He repeated, running his hand through his hair and breathing hard, "c'mon, let's follow the river for another sign of her."

Leaping from rock to rock, Kakashi and Pakkun flew downriver at top speed. Kakashi had never been as desperate to find a trail of blood. Then he began to slow, weary, and was forced to stop to catch his breath. He touched the grazed skin on his cheekbone: oily with poison.

"Kakashi, what's wrong?" Pakkun had doubled back, "were you poisoned too?"

"It looks that way," he answered heavily, "my chakra's depleted..." He shook his head as he was overwhelmed by a wave of nausea.

"Boss?"

"Find Team Gai," Kakashi ordered, "I'll summon you once I find Erisu."

"But-"

"Now, Pakkun." His head was throbbing horribly and he felt as though he might pass out but he was certain that Pakkun had to leave... Right? He couldn't think straight.

"I'll go get help," Pakkun's voice said from far away. Kakashi just glimpsed the cloud of space/time smoke before everything went black.


	23. Chapter 21: Stranded

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

 ** _Stranded_**

~Erisu~

Erisu broke the surface with a terrified gasp. Muddy water flooded into her mouth and nose, grit in her teeth, and she was dragged back under. She struggled frantically in the cold, sucking dark as she was trawled mercilessly onward like a fish in a net. Above sunlight shattered against the surface, unreachable and unforgiving.

She slammed against a rock, head connecting with a violent crack, and her breath burst out in a rush of bubbles. Momentarily stunned, Erisu slipped past and deeper under. It wasn't like when she'd been trapped under the dock as a child and it wasn't like the brief snippets of fear when she'd fallen under while swimming with Yusha, it was her nightmares made reality as if she'd trapped herself inside her own jutsu.

The darkness enveloped her in a heavy blanket and she was lost in the torrent. Every cell cried out for oxygen and her brain turned to cotton, unable to tell if her eyes were open or closed. Icy cold seeped through her skin, gripping her lungs as as she tried not to breath. It was as pointless as trying to stop her heart from beating and she inhaled a gush of water. The river was in her now, she was the same as waterlogged branches and swaths of river weeds as she was sent spiralling into the cold and the black.

Then Erisu was knocked against another solid shape but this time managed to catch it, fingernails splintering as she clawed desperately against the stone. She heaved herself upward and resurfaced. Choking and spluttering, she gulped the humid air like a child first born. Clinging to the rough and slippery surface, left arm barely strong enough to keep its grip, she tried to pull herself free of the current.

She crawled onto the rock and stared around in terror. One shore was a severe, treelined cliff while the other was a tangle of reeds and a foreboding forest. The road was nowhere to be seen. A dark mass of cumulus clouds had gathered above, shrouding the sun from view. She had no gear, no watch, and no sensei. Trembling and weak with exhaustion Erisu scanned the frothing river but he wasn't there.

She turned instead to the bank and, with a bracing gasp of precious air, dove towards the cattails. She landed in the shallows and struggled onto dry land. Throwing herself gratefully into the grass, Erisu lay limp and shaking as she tried to regain control of her lungs.

A light drizzle of rain fell around her, pattering on leaves and bouncing on the leaf strewn ground but Erisu was too sodden to notice. Chakra depleted and her left arm hanging lank and useless at her side, Erisu returned to the bank and patrolled the river's edge. Something silver glinted amidst the white caps and Erisu leapt instantly into the water. She fought through the flow and caught Kakashi as he was swept past her. His dead weight and the tow of the water nearly dragged them both back into the viscous river but she managed to haul him back to the bank. Struggling under his weight, Erisu pushed through the mass of reeds and released him on the ground.

"Sensei," she said loudly, shaking his shoulders. His head lolled, eyes closed. " _Sensei_!" No response.

Erisu zipped open his vest and placed her head against his horribly still chest. She hastily rolled up his sleeve and administered the antidote. He wasn't breathing, heart beating feebly. Without a second's hesitation she pulled down his mask. She froze at the sight of his face, a flutter behind her sternum and a tingle over her skin. He was so beautiful... But there was no time to admire him now.

Shaking with anxiety she tilted his head back and opened his mouth, turning him on his side and letting the water drain out. Then she gently pinched his nose shut and pressed her lips against his, warm and soft. She exhaled forcefully in a desperate attempt to clear his airway and reflate his lungs. Pulling back she scanned him for signs of life, nothing. She placed her mouth over his again and breathed into him. His hand suddenly caught in her hair, his lips pressing to hers tenderly, a strange, fleeting kiss. His released her breath back into her mouth, hot and trembling and Erisu lost all comprehension of anything.

Then she broke away and turned Kakashi back onto his side as he coughed up the rest of the river water. Dizzy and flushed, she helped him to sit up.

" _Risu-chan_ ," he murmured, and she found herself entranced by the curve and movement of his mouth as he said her name.

The R was barely audible as the word started on a breath that was whispered nearly into silence before the hard, yet gentle, consonant of the intimate honorific. His tongue barely touched the roof of his mouth as he ended the tender suffix, as though her name had caught in his throat.

"S-sensei, I thought..." Casting away all pretence she embraced him tightly. Her cheek brushed his and he held her softly almost as if he thought he might break her if he hugged her too tight.

When she finally pulled away she looked at his pale, secret face. His straight nose and narrow jaw, the beauty mark beneath the left corner of his mouth... A trickle of discoloured blood ran down his cheek. Embarrassed redness was sponged onto his wet cheekbones as his lips curled into a nervous, crooked smile.

"E-eto..." His dark eye dropped from hers and he made to pull his mask back up but she stayed his hand without thinking. Their eyes met and Erisu found herself gazing at him with her heart racing as she knitted her fingers in his.

"You're even more handsome than I'd imagined," she whispered.

He started to speak but seemed at a loss for words. The forest around them blurred into a mere backdrop as Kakashi and Erisu sat in the reeds and the rain.

"We should..." He extracted his hand from hers and ran it through his wet hair. "We..." He cleared his throat. "Where are we?"

"I...um." She forced her eyes away from his face to look around again. "I'm not sure."

Around them the rain was steadily worsening. Kakashi got slowly to his feet, concealing himself behind the dark fabric again just like he hid his feelings from her, and analyzed their surroundings. Erisu looked down at her trembling white hands. He was unobtainable to her.

"Come on." She looked up to see his hand extended to her. "Let's find some shelter." He guided her back to her feet as her head swam dizzyingly. She wasn't sure if it was from her illness or something else. She followed him into the dark and twisted labyrinth of trees.


	24. Chapter 22: The Fatal Blow

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

 ** _The Fatal Blow_**

~Erisu~

Lightning flashed, briefly turning the woods white. A boom erupted all around as a deafening thunderclap crashed above. Icy rain dropped like a theatre curtain, soaking them again in an instant. The raindrops spattered the ground in massive beads causing water to quickly pool amidst the thick twisted roots. The leaves whispered and the gnarled branches groaned ominously in the growing wind, trees creaking and sighing eerily. The forest was alien and hungry.

Mud suctioned their boots as they weaved between the thick knobbly trunks. Erisu felt exposed and vulnerable on the forest floor as they made their way through the unfamiliar woodland. She kept close to Kakashi, both were warily searching the treetops for more rogues.

As they ventured deeper the forest steadily into an organic maze, the dense canopy knitting tighter to conceal any sunlight.

The ancient, colossal trees towered around them and left Erisu feeling claustrophobic. Without warning a wild pain shot up her left leg, seizing up the limb and rendering it useless. She lurched forward and plummeted headlong towards the ground but Kakashi caught her wrist and swung her back to her feet. He gripped her and narrowed that calculating grey eye.

"What was that?" He was onto her.

"I tripped," she said, too conscious of their close proximity and his hands on her body. Clouds had settled in her brain.

"Tripped?" He repeated dryly.

She shrugged him off and busied herself with her busted compass. "A dirty great root, sir, they're everywhere."

"Mine's broken too," Kakashi said with a glance at Erisu's compass, "and my map's unreadable from water damage."

"Oh..!" Erisu opened her hip pouch and pulled up a carefully rolled up piece of parchment. "Mine should be fine, I laminated it."

"Good idea." He surveyed the shadowy forest and puddly earth. "We'd better find somewhere dry to hold up for the night and formulate a plan. It's pointless wandering around in a storm with no way of telling direction."

They continued a few paces then: "There!" She pointed to a massive tree bordering a clearing ahead. It's thick exposed roots formed a natural alcove, "we can cover the gaps in bark and leaves. Let's stow our gear and split up to find resources, meet you back here in ten?"

Kakashi looked down at her curiously, surprised by her willingness to take charge, but he expressed no complaints and went along with it.

Erisu had woven long strips of cedar bark into waterproof mats and crosshatched deciduous branches over top for extra density. Soaked to the bone from her concentrated work, she finally slipped into the shelter. Kakashi's sleeping bag was nearly dry where he'd hung it near the trunk. He'd stripped into his undershirt, his clothes and mail also hanging to dry, and was struggling to bandage his arm.

"Let me," Erisu murmured and knelt between his knees. He watched her in a comfortable silence as she gently wrapped his injury. His skin was warm and shiny with moisture as she tenderly bound the linen over his firm bicep. Rain pattered above, but her cedar roof barely leaked.

"Something tells me that you're in your element in the wild," he commented in a soft voice, "taking initiative like that..."

"I've spent a lot of time in the wilderness," she replied, "there's a simplicity in nature one'll never find elsewhere."

"How long?" He asked, his low voice barely audible over the roaring wind.

"Four years, on and off," she answered, pinning the tensor in place, "there, that'll hold." She made to pull away but Kakashi grasped her hand, she froze at his touch and looked up into a dark, concerned eye.

"Your fingers are ice," he murmured, holding her hands in his to warm them, "you need to dry off or you'll be at risk of hypothermia."

"Right..." She held his gaze for a few more moments before withdrawing.

Erisu could feel Kakashi's gaze on her like a spotlight as she untied her kimono, shouldering out of the dripping black fabric. She unfastened the clasp of her mail and slipped it over her head, his gaze burning her. Wet hair clung to her jaw and temples, water soaked undershirt clinging to her like synthetic skin, she bent to unstrap her boots.

"Risu." She jumped at his voice and turned to face him. "You're bleeding."

"Where?" The pain in her leg was so overwhelming it tended to numb all other injuries by comparison.

"Here." He brushed his fingers over Erisu's shoulder blade and she noticed the tingle of raw flesh beneath her shirt.

"Oh..." She glanced over her shoulder to find his face mere centimetres from hers. "...would you pass me my medkit please, O-sama?"

He chuckled and moved away to fetch it. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Kakashi'?"

"As many times as it takes, I suppose."

"Take off your shirt," he said, behind her again, "this is bleeding heavily, I need to see how serious it is." She took a deep breath and obeyed, fiercely conscious of her exposed skin. "It needs stitches," he informed her gravely, "I can see the bone and it looks like some tendons were severed... That rogue must've cut you deeper than we thought."

"Twas lucky my pack absorbed most of it or I'd probably have lost an arm." She tried to keep her voice light but Kakashi remained serious.

"More likely you'd be dead," he was pressing gauze firmly against the injury to stop the bleeding, "how'd you not feel this?"

"Adrenaline?" She suggested, heart hammering from the feel of his fingers on her back, "I have a very high pain tolerance."

He grunted noncommittally in response. She winced as he pinched her skin together. "Brace yourself," he warned and she closed her eyes as the needle pierced her, feeding the thread through. The burning friction of the surgical thread was strangled soothing, a flickering distraction from the chronic ache of her arteries. Kakashi's long fingers held her steady in one hand while the other sewed her up like a rag doll, his breath on the back of her neck and his pulse tangible through his palm. Thunder crashed through the clouds above like a rockslide in the sky while the two shinobi sat silently in their shelter.

"There." He sealed her wound with gauze and surgical tape. "Can you rotate your shoulder?"

She raised her arm, wincing, and swivelled it in its socket. Her elbow bumped his chest.

"Sorry! I don't mean to-"

"What?" He laughed. "Relax! I'm not going to hurt you or anything." He messed up her damp hair and she bit her smiling lips. He moved away and set about clearing up the shelter.

"Thank you," she said after him.

Kakashi turned to face her, amusement in his eye. "We're comrades," he replied simply, "I might even go so far as to say we're friends."

"I might say that as well," she mused quietly, back still towards him to conceal her nearly bare breasts, "'tis odd..." She trailed off as she thought better than to voice her thoughts.

"What's odd?" He asked as he set to work clearing loose rocks and branches from the shelter floor.

"That rogue," her voice was but a breath in the storm, "what he said to me..."

"I have to ask... Why did a servant of Orochimaru-sama recognize you, and who's Miwa-san?"

She looked over her pale, shivering shoulder and found him eying her from the shadows near the trunk of the tree.

"He recognized my jutsu, not me," she answered, "I didn't think anyone knew that I'd cast Mental Nightmare on Miwa..."

"So that was the jutsu?" His voice sounded very intrigued now as Erisu discreetly pulled her damp undershirt back on. "You told me you'd only used it twice, that you'd only use it in a life or death situation..."

"I had to save Bull-san." she turned to him. "I'm so sorry, O-sama. I should've noticed their weapons were poisoned before we'd engaged them. Are the others okay?"

"They're fine," he replied, "and noticing the toxin prior to battle didn't fall solely on you. I'm surprised I didn't smell it." His eye crinkled into a smile. Thank you for saving him, Risu-chan."

She returned his smile shyly, eyes dropping. "I didn't think that underhand trick would work. It was a total gamble, I'm thankful they fell for it."

"Well.." He glanced out at the darkening sky. "You had me fooled for a moment too."

She stared, surprised. "What? You know I'd never... Right?"

"You can be very manipulating when you want to be," he regarded her with an unreadable expression, "and that jutsu... What did you do to him exactly?"

"I put him in a genjutsu coma," she said quickly, "it'll pass once I'm far enough away from him. But until then he'll be in a realm of nightmares."

Kakashi's voice dropped and he watched her carefully, "and Miwa-san?" She'd thought she'd diverted him from that topic.

"She was my ... childhood friend," Erisu said slowly over the thundering of the rain, "we were inseparable. After the Uchiha Downfall I was suddenly alone and, well, there were some questions as to whether I knew about Itachi-senpai's plans. Rather abruptly I found myself suspected of disloyalty and even treason. I became a bit of an outcast, even my own mother thought I was of a like mind as Itachi-senpai. The only person who saw me for who I was was Miwa." Erisu breathed shakily to steady herself and continued, "she too had been unable to attend the academy but in her case it was due to her poor control and low stores of chakra. So I designed a Chakra Transference Jutsu to give her mine."

"What happened to her?" He asked.

"My family moved away from Konoha and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye.." Erisu kept her eyes averted as she spoke, her voice nearly drowned out by the roaring wind outside. "After I left she defected and joined the Sound."

"You encountered her during the Konoha Crush," he understood.

"I never wanted to hurt her," she said in a strained voice, "he'd... Experimented on her, changed her, she wasn't Miwa anymore, didn't even recognize me. She had terrifying abilities-I couldn't stop her... She murdered innocents, children, before my eyes and... I didn't have a choice. 'Twas either kill her or put her under my jutsu." She swallowed the lump growing in her throat and examined a water beetle climbing up one of the gnarled roots.

"Mental Nightmare in just that: a horrible nightmare in one's mind. It makes you experience your worst fears and experiences in an eternal loop until the caster either releases you or moves far enough away..." She closed her eyes to dam the flood of tears trying to burst forth. "...and for Miwa, that was being abandoned by me, a nightmare she'd had to live through in reality.

"The genjutsu broke what was left of her mind and she finally realized who I was. Torn between her devotion to Orochimaru-sama and her friendship with me she opted to kill herself instead of choosing a side." Erisu snuck a look at his expression but his eye was still unreadable. "She slit her own throat and died in my arms... Some Anbu members found me with her body, Yamato-senpai was one of them. They assumed I'd killed her and didn't believe me when I told them she'd committed suicide.

"I recently tried to pay my respects to her mother... I wasn't welcome, to say the least, and discovered that her body was taken by the to the Intelligence Headquarters to be dismembered," her voice broke and she swallowed againrr, "there wasn't enough of her leftover to bury."

"Risu..." He began but she couldn't bear to let him speak.

" _And he knew_ ," she turned her teary eyes to her sensei, voice rising in grief, "he knew what I'd done, how'd he know?"

"I don't know."

"I shouldn't've tried to fight off the Sound Ninjas," she said bitterly, "'twas foolish. I didn't strike the fatal blow but I'm the one that murdered her. I made her what she was by loving her and then leaving her. I drove her to Orochimaru-sama, and I was the one who'd taught her all the jutsus she'd used to kill. Her mother is childless and the Sora family name has come to an end due to my failure. It was all because I was selfish and didn't want to be alone."

Kakashi had moved to her side without her notice, he placed his steady hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his eye. "Erisu." His voice was quite firm. "Stop torturing yourself."

"I beg your pardon..?"

"The events that led up to the Konoha Crush and your friend's suicide were out of your control," he told her with certainty, "you can't hold yourself accountable or you'll be driven mad by guilt, seriously."

She gazed into the inky depths of his eye and found a familiar pain, the same despair that she suffered was reflected back at her. Then he blinked and it was gone. He shuffled away and Erisu dropped her eyes to her knees introspectively. She felt exposed having revealed the secret of Miwa to him but also felt strangely lighter, as if she'd discarded a burden she hadn't realized she'd been carrying.

"Now let's see..." His voice was light and mellow again. She looked back at him to see him rummaging through his rucksack. "Here we are." He produced some packaged rice balls and seaweed. "Rations?"

"No thank you, I'm fine."

"How do you expect to restore your chakra and recover from that wound?" He tossed her some food. "Eat."

It was an order so she obeyed. Kakashi pulled down his mask and ate a roll of rice. Erisu caught herself staring at him again, still enthralled by his exposed face. She turned her attention to her food.

Then a thought occurred. "O-sama-"

"Kakashi." He corrected.

"-do you have enough chakra for a summon?"

"I don't think so, the poison really drained me." She nodded mutely and he added, "I know why you're asking though, and I agree that a hound could get us out of this situation by scouting for landmarks."

"Or at least keep watch so we could both sleep." Erisu sighed, then she opened her kunai holster on a whim. In a small container was a single remaining food pill. She held it up for him to see. "This should give you enough for a summon."

Kakashi narrowed his eye analytically. "You seem to use a lot of those, don't you?"

Erisu deflected him with a casual shrug. "I have low constitution," she told him, "this is a specific formula I concocted to help stabilize myself and concentrate my chakra. It makes it nearly impossible to waste any spiritual energy when performing jutsu." She extended her hand to him and placed the pill in his palm. "It's perfectly safe." He nodded slowly and she suspected that he didn't completely believe her. As she turned to scan the tree line she heard him swallow the capsule and chase it with a sip of water.

"It tastes like candy," he mused, "you have a sweet tooth?"

"Oh do I?" She laughed. "'Tis an addiction."

He rolled his shoulders from the instantaneous surge of energy. "For such a small pill it sure is effective," he commented, "have you considered selling these?"

"I just assumed that commercial pills would be more effective."

"No, this is superb." He flexed his fingers in preparation for hand signs. "I know a few Inuzuka who'd greatly benefit from these." Then he signed the advanced jutsu flawlessly, bit his thumb, and slammed his hand on the ground. "Summoning jutsu!" The round and glossy furred Pakkun appeared in a plume of smoke.

"Boss!" He barked, "you're okay!" Her turned his droopy eyes to Erisu and wagged his curly tail in delight. "You found her! I warned Team Gai about the presence of rogue supporters of Orochimaru-sama, they'll be on their way by now. What d'you two need?"

Erisu observed them in silence as Kakashi briefed the pug and told him to patrol the area while they rest, keeping an eye out for anything that could suggest their location. When Pakkun departed Kakashi pulled his sleeping bag down from the root it was drying on, then paused.

"We can sleep in shifts," he suggested as he spread the bag on the ground, "seeing as we only have one."

"You first," she replied, settling herself more comfortably against a root and turning her face to the forest, "I'll keep watch."

"Pakkun's keeping watch, you need rest." Erisu looked over at the jōnin to see him unzipping the bag to make a double sized comforter. "Come here." She obeyed, moving to his side and letting him drape the blanket over her trembling body.

"Thank you, sir," she huddled deeper into the sleeping bag and didn't notice him climb under beside her.

"Lift your head," Kakashi propped his rucksack under her head as a pillow and leaned against it, his eye still scanning their surroundings.

His body was so warm it was a struggle to refrain from pressing against him. Rain drummed soothingly above and the forest wines from the pressure of the wind. Beside her she could hear Kakashi's soft breathing. Then exhaustion hit her with an unforgiving blow and Erisu allowed herself to relax, her eyelids heavy and her body lethargic. She looked up at Kakashi's unmasked profile, his silver hair spiking as it dried, and fell into the comforting darkness of sleep.


	25. Chapter 23: Kappa Festival

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

 ** _Kappa Festival_**

Kakashi~

The pounding of rain on the thatched roof above muted the forest as the shelter was assaulted by the heavens. Calm and calculating, Kakashi gazed up at the dark, twisted roots and reflected on everything that'd happened on the mission so far. If they were unable to determine their location and get to the bridge on time... Well, Team Gai might be able to handle the mission in their absence.

He glanced down at Erisu asleep beside him, her lashes fluttering as she dreamt. He was still trying to wrap his head around everything she'd said and done. Erisu had proven herself to be a formidable fighter and quick thinker; the more he learned about her the more she intrigued him.

If anyone could understand the agonizing grief and guilt he felt about Rin it was Erisu.

"...Ka...kashi..." Erisu said airily in her sleep, "...Kakashi...kun..."

Unruly curls and spikes were forming around her smooth jaw and cheekbones as her hair dried making her look like a mischievous imp. Her ghostly white skin was mottled with bruises from her tumultuous trip through the rapids. Blue and purple darkened the rounded points of her shoulders and her neck, a myriad of blues, pink, and purples like the glowing clouds in an evening sky. Her delicate skin was grazed and frayed like paper blotted with blood red ink. She was so slight and fragile it was hard to believe that some could refer to her as the Ninja of Nightmares.

A sweet shuddering sigh escaped her and he watched her chest expand as she breathed. She was damp and shivering next to him and Kakashi ran his hand through his messy hair to keep from reaching out for her. Erisu stretched in her sleep, fingertips brushing the bare skin of his arm and he looked back at her.

"Risu-chan," he whispered, unable to pull his eyes from her slumbering visage.

She stirred at his voice, instinctively pressing against him, fingers gliding over his chest. Nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck, lips soft as rose petals on his jaw. He hesitated for a single throbbing heartbeat then pulled her hard against himself. She fit perfectly into his arms as if she'd always meant to be there, the missing piece in his puzzle. He wrapped his arms around her tiny little body and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair, the cool wetness of the rain, the earthy undertone of old parchment and a lingering trace of melted chocolate. She was warm and real, so vividly alive as he became aware of her every trembling breath.

With her body so close against him he could feel her uneven pulse and lithe muscles flexing and relaxing against his. The swell of her chest only separated from his by thin, wet fabric. Kakashi's hands shook slightly as he traced the sharp ridges of her shoulder blades, the curving line of her spine. He entangled his fingers in her dewy hair, softer than down, and skimmed his mouth over the silken skin of her temple down to her cheek. He kissed her tenderly. She was hot, feverish on his lips, their combined body heat making the muggy night air condense into beads on the roots that arched above them.

"Sensei..?" Her lashes flickered like black butterflies and a sliver of foggy blue peered up at him.

"Sleep," he told her quietly, hiding his face in her aromatic hair. "Just sleep."

Darkness thickened around them and the faint light that'd been trickling through the mats faded. Erisu was lost in the night, only her heartbeat and quiet breathing remained. The rain drummed ever on in its determined attack on the forest and he let himself sink into tantalizing dreams about the warmth of her lithe body and the caress of her mouth on his.

 _Kakashi was dreaming._

The smooth and warm feel of a female form was moving subtly against him. Eyes closed in dreamy contentment, he ran his hands over the slim and curvaceous body that was slowly twisting and writhing. He caught hold of the plush thigh of the fantasy woman and pulled it over his hip. A subdued moan tickled his neck as he lazily ground against her, squeezing her hipbone to hold her fast against him. The woman in his dream sighed sleepily and caught her fingers in his hair. He adjusted himself, leaning over her, onto her, tongue sliding over soft skin.

As his fingers slid under the hem of her shirt to grasp her hot, silky back she murmured, "...Ka..kashi...sensei..."

Kakashi quite suddenly realized he was most certainly not dreaming and that Erisu was shifting in her sleep against him. His eyes shot open. Erisu ached her spine, twisting beneath him, and shuffled her hips against his. She was clearly still fast asleep as her body squirmed, arousing him further. He was frozen, arm beneath her with one hand holding her bare tailbone and the other clasping her right thigh which was wrapped around his waist. She stretched, mouth wet and soft on his neck...

"Mornin' boss," came Pakkun's gruff voice, "sleep well?"

Kakashi jumped off of Erisu and rounded on the pug, mortified. Pakkun was sitting in the opening of the tree root shelter, watery daylight was filtering in behind him. The dog's droopy eyed, squashed face was wrinkled into a haughty grin.

Kakashi pulled up his mask, heart slamming against his rigcage and stared wide eyed at Erisu. Still sound asleep, she simply rolled over with a soft murmur. Pointedly turning his back on Pakkun, Kakashi checked on his drying clothes.

"Oh Kakashi, you dog," the ninken said.

Kakashi, fixed the pug with a stare. "Not another word." He warned in a deadly whisper.

He dressed in silence, shooting anxious looks at Erisu as she turned restlessly in her sleep. Then she pushed herself onto all fours, blanket falling away, and sat back on her calves. She tousled her pale, messy hair and yawned. She rubbed her bandaged left leg, her bleary eyes narrowed in pain. She reached for her medkit, unaware of Kakashi watching her apprehensively, and popped back a few unmarked pills. She took a sip of water, wiping her lips with her fingertips, and turned her round, flushed face to him at last.

"Good morning, sensei," she said cheerfully, "sleep well?" Pakkun sniggered and padded out of the shelter.

"I did, thanks," he answered calmly, "you?"

She blushed suddenly and carefully stoppered her canteen. "I did rather."

His eye briefly flickered over the smooth slope of her spine and round curve of her hips as she knelt on the pine needle floor. There was a disarming spasm of sorts somewhere behind his navel.

Did she know..?

"The rain seems to have stopped," she said as she crawled to the opening to peer up at the sky, "damn, the cloud covering's still very thick."

Kakashi focused on rolling up the sleeping bag.

"You wouldn't happen to have a watch on you, O-sam - I mean- Kakashi-sensei, would you?"

He glanced over at her, amused by her attempt to address him properly.

"No, it hasn't been working since it got wet," he answered.

Erisu nodded distractedly and slipped out of the shelter. Kakashi packed up the last of their supplies and took down Erisu's kimono and mail. He followed her into the meagre morning light. She was busily hammering a long stick into the ground with a rock, looking up at the sky regularly as she did so. She circled the stick, protruding vertically from the ground at about waist height, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed in concentration. Pakkun was watching her warily as if concerned for her sanity.

"What are you doing, Risu?" Kakashi asked in a carefully polite voice.

"I'm making a sundial," she answered shortly as she circled the stick again, "if it weren't for the cloud cover..." She sighed in exhasperation and squatted beside the stick. "The shadows are too faint. I can't make out the sun's position."

Kakashi blinked, impressed. It'd been a clever idea but she was right, the stick cast no discernible shadow on the ground. Pakkun's pouchy eyes tracked Erisu as she stood and walked around a nearby tree. She was examining it scrutinizingly, and Kakashi cocked his head slightly as he observed her. She sighed and strolled around the next tree, staring up at its branches crossly.

"What're you doing now?" Pakkun asked as Erisu was now standing back to survey the tree line as a whole.

"The sun," she said dismissively, "the tree branches should be fuller on the side that regularly gets more light but..." She shook her head in defeat and glided back over to them. "Trees compete in the forest so it's harder to determine." She glared up at the sky. "If only the clouds would clear."

Kakashi watched Erisu tighten the numerous straps on her long, high heeled, tactical boots. She shook her pale hair back as she straightened, tapping her glossy lip as she thought. He had spent so much of his attention focusing on her round youthful face that he hadn't put much thought into how womanly her body really was until now. He hadn't realized quite how curvy her torso and hips were until he'd felt them with his own hands. The way she'd blushed when he asked how she'd slept... Did she think it was just a dream?

"Maybe we should head back to the river," Erisu suggested, her feline eyes scoping the forest, "if we continue following it downstream... But no, the road veered away from it a ways back. Sensei?"

Kakashi looked up at her in mild surprise. He'd been so preoccupied dwelling on his not-dream that he had lost track of the subject. His unease about earlier started to fade as he became more focused on the task at hand: reaching the village in time for their rendezvous.

"Yeah, the river," he agreed curtly, "we can backtrack to the road and, if we hurry, we might still make it."

Erisu walked purposefully towards him and he swallowed nervously. Then she slowed, regarding him warily.

"Are you alright, senp-sensei?" She took her clothes from him which he'd forgotten he was holding. "Only you look rather pale. You don't have any other injuries do you?"

"Just my cheek and bicep," he answered, coming to his senses, "which you've already tended to."

She smiled pleasantly and dressed quickly. Kakashi gazed up at the sky in hopes of seeing a patch of blue but saw only steely grey.

The three of them set off at a jog, retracing their steps the night before, back to the river. The water was swollen, churning with mud and debris from the storm. Erisu eyed it warily before turning her sights to the opposite bank that sloped up into more trees. The far bank was a mudslide and the river was so wide and frothing it was too treacherous to ford. The rocks they could've hopped across were now swallowed under the brown rapids and Kakashi doubted they should risk trying to jump it with their chakra so low and their bodies still weak from the poison.

Erisu pulled out her map and started seemingly comparing landmarks in focused silence. Leaving her to it, Kakashi turned to Pakkun instead.

"When exactly did Team Gai depart?" He asked with newfound urgency.

"Er-" Pakkun scrunched up his face thoughtfully, "noonish?" He offered, "but they didn't have Tenten-san with them. Apparently something personal came up at that needed her attention."

"So they're not a complete team." Kakashi closed his eyes wearily.

"But Gai-sensei said that he insisted on taking the mission anyways," Pakkun went on, "said it was important he was there while you 'test your theory'?"

Kakashi smiled despite his worry. Gai suspected Kakashi's intent on making Erisu Anbu.

"It's this way," Erisu said suddenly, gesturing through the woods.

Kakashi eyed her curiously, "how do you know?"

"Deciduous trees tend to grow on the south side of a hill and conifers on the north, judging by that slope-" She pointed to a grove of conifers. "-we're facing northeast. The river on the map is depicted flowing east to west through this forest." She showed him the legend. "If we follow it westward until we get out of the woods we should find this road here. Only a few kilometres west from this crossroad is an outpost where we can likely restore our rations and purchase a new compass."

Kakashi, having payed close attention to her every word and gesture, nodded approvingly.

"Good." He turned back to Pakkun. "Scout ahead along the river. Keep a wary eye out for more rogues."

"Yes boss!" Pakkun dipped his head to Kakashi, adding to Erisu, "you're a clever one, kid." He raced away before she could reply.

"We'd better hasten our pace to make up for lost time," Kakashi said grimly, "we don't want to risk our informant's discovery."

"Yes!" Erisu straightened in obedience and tightened her med-kit fastenings, "ready when you are, O-sama!"

He nodded curtly and lead the way, leaping into the air and racing up the trunk of the nearest tree. They took off through the treetops at top speed.

~Erisu~

Kakashi emerged from the outpost general store and tossed Erisu a compass, pocketing one for himself.

"His wares were sparse," he told her, "no camping gear I'm afraid, but I did get some freeze dried tuna."

Erisu smiled weakly. "I'll pass," she declined quickly, stowing her compass, "it's only a few hours to the village."

"Not a fan of tuna?" He queried.

"I'm vegetarian." She replied shortly, anticipating him to mock her but Kakashi was indifferent, nodding in polite acknowledgment and packing the fish away without comment. They set off, westbound, until Pakkun emerged from the undergrowth.

"No sign of any foes," he reported, "glad to see you made your way out of the woods alright."

"All thanks to Erisu's impressive survivalist skills," Kakashi replied, "I was concerned we might be late for our rendezvous with Team Gai but we're ahead of schedule. Being washed downstream turned out to be quite the shortcut." Erisu kicked a pebble along with her toe as they walked, watching it concentratedly.

"Yeah! You'd make a good scout, kid!" Pakkun declared.

"Thank you," she mumbled uncomfortably.

The sun was setting, streaking the sky with magenta wisps of cloud. Ahead a warm glow lit the road like a thousand fireflies. In the tangle of branches above banners and paper lanterns crisscrossed the road on snaking strings.

"What's this?" Kakashi wondered, looking down at his map for answers.

"A festival?" Erisu suggested.

"There's a small Buddhist temple on the outskirts of the village," he noted, "intriguing. I suppose we'll see in a moment."

The forest opened into a grassy glade that sloped downward to the village. The small cluster of wooden buildings were nestled against a vast, black lake that was as smooth as glass. The evening light shattered on the water, droplets of red scattered across black, while the jade shingles gleamed like foxfire. The streets below were bustling with people, all traditionally dressed and glowing like gemstones, as they moved through the maze of market stands and shops.

"It seems you were right." Kakashi was untying his headband. "I wasn't aware of a festival or I'd have brought more appropriate clothes."

Erisu followed his lead and undid the Konoha emblem from her obi and hid it in her medkit.

"I wonder what they're celebrating?" Erisu couldn't conceal her excitement.

"Hmm." He surveyed the village critically. "I think it's best if you depart now, Pakkun. We mustn't give away our shinobi identities."

"Alright," Pakkun nodded curtly, "see you later." He burst into smoke and Kakashi plunged his hands into his pockets. He looked over at Erisu, left eye closed in a non-deliberate wink.

"Shall we?" He tilted his silver head towards the village below. "We have..." He produced a pocket watch. "Four hours until we meet at the bridge."

Erisu did an involuntary dance of glee. " _Kya!_ " She squealed, "a festival!" Kakashi shook his head, bemused, and they headed down the slope.

The village was teeming with festive civilians and the scent of tempura and barbecued meat filled the air. Patrons, dressed in extravagant kimonos, moved from stall to stall purchasing trinkets and deep fried fish. Children raced about with sparklers, their faces hidden behind the grotesque features of Yokai masks, and shouted excitedly as they played. It was all Erisu could do to resist joining them in their game of chase. She followed the senior shinobi through the market practically skipping.

"Pretty girl!" A man caught Erisu's sleeve, his aged face wrinkled into a smile. "I have kimonos, pretty girl. You must dress for the festival! Buy one?"

Erisu bowed her head. "No thank you, Ojiisan," she said politely.

He grabbed her arm as she made to walk away. "Your eyes are so blue," he said eagerly, "kimonos are free for eyes that blue." Erisu glanced at Kakashi to find him looking on, amusement lighting up his dark eye.

"Your eyes _are_ very blue," he agreed in mock seriousness, "go get a kimono." Erisu gave in and followed the bent old man into his stall.

The kimonos were artfully made, their glossy silk vibrant colours. The old man shouted to a greying woman in the back and she hustled over to Erisu. Behind her, Erisu caught sight of Kakashi choosing himself a black haori and two piece kimono.

"Come back here," the old woman ordered, "I'll find you the perfect dress for the Kappa Festival."

Kappa.. The water Yokai who was known for his love of cucumbers. The old woman ushered Erisu behind a screen and stripped her down to her lacy, black lingerie. She draped her in some shimmery blue fabric and set to work measuring and pinning it. At last she stepped back to admire her work and nodded approvingly.

"You look beautiful," the old woman told her, "go show your sweetheart!"

"He's not-" she began to object but the woman had already started stripping her again. She folded up the kimono and wrapped it in brown paper and string. She shooed Erisu into the busy street where Kakashi waited.

"Do we have time for a quick bath?" Erisu asked hopefully as she eyed the locals' glossy hair and pristine clothes, "we'd look more professional clean."

"Mm." His eyes smiled, his own festival attire was packaged and tucked under his arm. "My thoughts exactly." The two ninjas picked their way through the festivities until they found a quant bathhouse. Thankfully it was separate bathing.

"Be quick about it," he warned, "there's no time for a long soak."

Erisu acknowledged him with a nod and hurried inside to freshen up. Once clean, Erisu carefully wrapped the silken kimono over her mail and swept her short ashen hair into a simple bun, pinning it with an elegant comb that had been packaged along with her dress. Feeling all the more excited she stuffed her mud stained clothing into the shopping bag and hurried from the bathhouse to meet her sensei.

~Kakashi~

Kakashi, now garbed in plain formal attire, scrutinized the passerbys, wary for any sign of the Akatsuki. He was on edge, certain that they'd make their move soon. Naruto was training alone back in Konoha and he was certain the Akatsuki would strike once Jiraiya was no longer around to defend the boy. At least Yamato would be on the lookout...

The bathhouse door slid open and Kakashi looked over at a nervous young woman. His heart skipped a beat.

She was as beautiful as a geisha, only muted in colour. Her light silvery blonde hair was arranged in a mass of perfectly arranged curls and held fast with a pale blue, lily shaped comb. The long skirt of her silk kimono was a pearly glaucous blue and embroidered with white chrysanthemums, the crisp white under kimono just visible at the cuffs of her long flowy sleeves and between the front panels when she moved. Her obi was shimmery and silver, tied extravagantly around her tiny waist. Accustomed to seeing her only in the beau teal hues of black or navy he was disarmed by how breathtakingly beautiful she was in the opalescent blue. She turned once, admiring the swish of fabric around herself and glanced up at Kakashi.

"How do I look?" She asked, hands folded on a shopping bag in front of her.

"Perfect," he answered softly, causing Erisu to glow with embarrassment.

Her eyes roved over his body from under dark lashes and her lips curved in a smile. "Don't you look handsome all dressed up?" She approached him playfully, bag swaying in her hand, and poked the silver circle on the breast of his hiori. "You should dress up more often sensei."

Kakashi narrowed his eye at her suspiciously, was she flirting?

"But your mask..." She cocked her head to examine his face, "you still look rather ninja-y. I don't think common folk generally wear masks to festivals, do they? Maybe we could get you a Kappa mask?"

Then something seemingly caught her eye for she straightened and grabbed his hand in excitement. He stiffened and stared down at her soft, slender fingers in his.

" _Pocky!_ " She cried exuberantly, pointing to a stand across the street selling sweets, "O-sama, would you lend me some money for the festival?" Her eyes were round and sparkling with excitement. "Oh pretty, _pretty please_ , sensei? I swear on the Hokage that I'll pay you back once we're back in Konoha!"

Kakashi was confused, Erisu was normally so conservative and quiet, but the festival had ignited her like fireworks. "Alright, alright," he waved his hand to calm her, "we have time to spare and yen to spend."

" _Yatta!_ " She squealed and danced on the spot, "I haven't been to a festival in years!"

Her delight was infectious; Kakashi smiled in spite of himself. They hustled their way through the swarm of people and purchased some pocky. Erisu was beside herself with happiness over the simple sweet and Kakashi wondered when the last time she'd been given a gift was.

"Don't worry about paying me back, Erisu," he told her in an undertone, "it's on me."

She stuck the chocolate covered end of the long, thin cookie in her mouth, letting it stick out like a cigarette. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask at her.

"Do you want any other candy?" He asked, amused by her love of it. Her eyes widened further still, dominating her face.

"You're the best, O-sama," she said softly. He brushed this off and bought her an assortment of gummies, a bag of watame, and some chocolates. She stowed them in her shopping bag and gazed at him in amazement. He was surprised by his generosity too, being generally rather frugal. She offered him some pocky but he shook his head.

"No thanks, I'm not very fond of sweets." He told her lazily, glancing around for enemies.

"Curious," she replied fiddling with the biscuit that protruded from her lips, "what do you like then, Kakashi-sama?"

"Broiled saury and miso," he told her distractedly, tempted to open his Sharingan just in case, "with eggplant."

"I'll have to make it for you sometime." She had noticed something else that interested her and started to drift away. "I quite enjoy braising eggplant. I have a homemade dashi recipe and make my own miso paste..."

Kakashi followed her through the brightly lit street, both eyes now patrolling their surroundings. The smell of frying squid and melted caramel hung in the air, drifting over the crowd like smoke. The stalls were extravagant, clearly belonging to the wealthiest of merchants, and overflowing with all manner of goods. Food and beer was being served everywhere, and all manners of trinkets, gizmos, oddities, and souvenirs were on display. Live music was playing somewhere nearby and the banging of firecrackers kept him on edge. It was a pandemonium of frivolity.

Erisu lead the way, dragging Kakashi along by the hand as she exclaimed in excitement at every stall. She seemed preoccupied with the festival but he noticed her eyes flickering from blue to pink now and again as she probed the minds of the strangers around them. Then she froze, mid-step, and twirled around to face a display of Kappa plushies. The ugly toad-like face of the river deity had been made incredibly cute, more like a baby otter than Yokai. Erisu let out a hushed cry of adoration.

" _Kawaii!_ " She cooed, "O-sama, he's adorable!"

Kakashi stifled a sigh, he wasn't sure whether he should be amused or annoyed. Seeing this side of Erisu was odd, yet not unpleasant, in fact it was the first time he'd seen her this happy. He recalled how her home had looked more like that of a wizened old sage than a youthful girl and thought she deserved something fun.

"Yo," he addressed the merchant, "a plushie, please." The outrageous price was tolerable only because of Erisu's astonished gratitude. She looked as though she hadn't imagined anyone would simply hand her a toy for free.

"Thank you so much..." she said, eyes like blue saucers, "...Kakashi-kun." She hugged the stuffed blue deity to her chest and beamed up at him. He gave her a double take, surprised by the intimate adress, then something caught his eye and it was his turn to lead her through the crowd. Holding her hand to keep her close, Kakashi guided Erisu to a little restaurant. He gently pushed her towards a bar stool and she obediently sat, gazing around in wonder.

"A double order of kappa maki please," he called as he sat next to her, "makizushi's your favourite right?"

She nodded, clearly pleased he'd remembered. The chef placed the long cucumber rolls before them.

"They're not cut," Erisu said, nonplussed.

"During a kappa festival you eat them as is," Kakashi explained, watching her thoughtfully as she picked up the roll and took a bite. She struggled for a moment on the chewy seaweed then blinked at him appreciatively.

"Delicious, thank you!" She seemed overwhelmed by his generosity and Kakashi's thoughts darkened. How had she been treated in the past to expect so little from others?

"You'd better take those to go," advised the chef, "the fireworks will be starting on the lake soon."

" _Fireworks?_ " Erisu echoed, on her feet instantly.

"Yeah," grunted the man, "only happens once a year. Here," he handed her a cucumber, "give it to the kappa for me, would ya?" Erisu accepted the offering and stared up at Kakashi eagerly, her eyes speaking for her.

"Let's go then," he mused, packing up their maki, "we meet Gai in three hours." They headed out into the chaos of the street and followed the current of people to the docks. Several cucumbers had already been placed at a shrine near the water's edge. Erisu gently set the vegetable alongside the others and returned to Kakashi's side. They strolled along the beach, away from the crowd of people, and settled on a piece of driftwood to wait.

"I'd forgotten how much fun festivals are," she told him softly, gaze fixed on the dark expanse of water before them, "I missed most of the Chūnin Exam celebration last time I was in Konoha."

"Well the exams will be starting again in a of couple months," he replied, "when you're not too busy training we can enjoy the celebrations." Erisu glanced furtively up at him and then back to the lake, hugging her kappa. Here on the outskirts of the village, the light pollution was reduced and the sky was smeared with stars. Erisu tilted her head back to admire the sky, Kakashi looking on silently.

"Look," she pointed at the stars and he followed her finger as it traced an image in the sky, "it's Pakkun-san." He looked closely and made out the flat, scowling face of the ninken pug. He chuckled and scratched his jaw in amusement. Silence resumed, then an idea occurred.

"Come," he said as he stood and offered her his hand. She took it and her lead her to the water's edge. "I want you to focus your chakra for me." He held both her hands and walked backwards onto the smooth liquid surface. "Focus it to your feet as if you're climbing tree."

Erisu hesitated, the lake lapping at the toes of her boots. She looked up at him nervously, she lacked confidence but he knew she had the skill.

"Close your eyes," he told her softly. She looked at him uncertainly then lowered her shadowy lids, spidery lashes extending far on her cheekbones. "You have to be aware of the rippling of the water, project your chakra into in with the flow."

He stepped back, guiding her into the lake. She stepped into the water for a moment then steadied. Leading her further from the shore, Kakashi watched her concentrated expression. Her lips were puckered slightly, brows knitted and eyelids quivering as her mind worked. They were considerably deep now, the sandy floor of the lake nothing but murky shadows.

"Open you eyes," he whispered so as to not startle her.

Erisu obeyed and looked about her, eyes widening further and further. "Sensei..!" It was a hushed exclamation. "Sensei, I did it..!" She looked around again positively radiating happiness. "Yatta..!"

She looked back up at him, moonlight catching in her crystalline irises and his mind became a feathery and light. His heart beat violently against his sternum and his pupils widened to take her in.

"Risu-chan," he began and his voice came out in breeze of emotion.

"Yes, Kakashi?" He had her undivided attention and felt the sound of his name in her airy sing-song voice as if she'd murmured it to his bones. Then the decision solidified in him as he made up his mind to confess.

Kakashi tugged down his mask, fiercely aware of her gaze wandering over his lips then back to his eyes. The cool night air tingled on his exposed skins and he took a bracing breath.

"Risu-chan," he began again, "I..." But her expression stalled him. The colour in her face drained away and her eyes stretched in fear. She knew he'd been intending kokuhaku.

"Th-the fireworks will be starting in a moment," she said quickly, "let's go back to the shore."

He stared at her in nonplussed silence, their fingers still entwined. _Didn't she..? I thought she..._

He couldn't understand the sudden flip but he realized she was denying him without denying him. Kakashi pulled his mask back up and they walked across the water to shore.

They sat in a strange, cold silence unlike any that'd ever fallen between them before. He'd been certain she returned his affections but now... Something was preventing her. Was it her illness? Then another thought formed and his skin prickled at the very idea.

"Risu-chan," he said, wanting to voice his thoughts while they were still alone, "you very rarely speak of your family.." She suddenly grew still. "... If you don't mind my asking, why is that?"

Erisu bowed her head in silence for a moment before replying, "because I'm ashamed, sir," her voice was barely more than a whisper, "I was disowned by my mother and don't want to dishonour her further by speaking ill of her."

"Disowned?" Kakashi frowned, unease mounting. "Why would you speak ill of her?"

"She," Erisu paused, considering her words, "she despises shinobi and the Hokages."

He didn't want to press her but instinct told him he must. "Did she harm you in some way?"

Erisu's eyes snapped to his, alarmed, "w-what makes you ask that?"

"I can tell, Risu," he said. She sighed in defeat.

"We hated each other," she told him, "we disagreed on everything, from our religious perspectives, to our morals," her voice hardened, "especially our morals."

"In what sense?"

"In every sense." She laughed wryly, a very un-Erisu laugh. "But as her daughter I submitted to her authority and accepted her decisions regardless of the consequences. Until he-" she cut herself off and glanced at him as though she'd let slip a terrible secret then she composed herself and continued, "needless to say I'd had enough. So I left."

"You left?"

"I was fifteen, nothing to lose and everything to gain, so I left." She said this as though it was perfectly normal for one to pack up and leave their family at fifteen.

"She didn't try to stop you?"

"No," Erisu smiled, "we were both better off apart."

"What about your father?" He queried, "didn't he have any say?"

"My father's deceased." She shrugged. "I read about Sasuke-san being scheduled to fight Gaara-sama and decided to return to Konoha."

"Where were you travelling from?" He asked curiously.

"A tiny village to the north," she said with an unconvincing air of nonchalance, "I doubt you'll have heard of it."

Kakashi opened his mouth to push her more but was interrupted. There was a whistling sound and a jet of light leapt from the water's surface. It burst in a brilliant sphere of yellow sparks causing Erisu to gasp. Another light, red, followed by sparkling azure-explosions of colour in the night sky. The lake reflected the fire in a mosaic of light, the sound of the exploding fireworks echoing across its surface.

Beside him, Kakashi was aware of Erisu sucking the chocolate off a stick of pocky, her eyes mirroring the light show. His expression softened as he watched her from the corner of his eye, the way she was delighted by little thinks like toys and candy was so innocent and endearing, but beneath her childlike wonder he caught glimpses of heartache and suffering. He found himself worrying about how she'd been mistreated, distracted from the fireworks by his brooding thoughts. What had her mother done? And who was "he"?

Someone was approaching stealthily from behind them, Kakashi could hear the pebbles grinding under the weight of four feet, too heavy. Lighter footfalls followed close behind. Gai and Lee's ankle weights were a dead giveaway. Erisu signalled him with a glance; she was aware of them as well. Kakashi subtly took a biscuit from Erisu and held it out behind him.

"Yo Gai," he said calmly without turning, "pocky?"

"Damn it Kakashi," Gai snatched the sweet, "stop being so cool!"

Erisu rose and bowed deeply, "Gai-sama, Lee-san, Neji-san," she smiled warmly, "aren't the fireworks beautiful?" The cold gaze of Neji deflated her jubilance instantly, and she bowed again in apology. Kakashi stood to greet them as well. They had removed their shinobi markings but Gai and Lee still looked eccentric in their bright green jumpsuits.

"You're early," he commented, "travel safely?"

"We had a run in with some unmarked shinobi on the road," Gai reported, "it was a close call, not having Tenten along adds strain."

"We encountered some rogues as well," Kakashi's voice was grave, behind him Erisu and Lee were gaping at the fireworks show, "their weapons were coated in a neurotoxin that drained our chakra. They were highly trained and mentioned Orochimaru-sama."

"Do you think the Akatsuki are aware of our mission?" Gai asked quietly.

"We should assume so." Gold sparks showered down from above. "It's good you're early, we should go directly to the bridge and hope the informant is there already. The sooner we leave, the better." Gai nodded grimly as they both thought about the risk of collateral damage if the rogues made another appearance amidst the villagers.

"The festival will make a good cover," Neji commented, "we should try to wrap this up while most of the civilians are at the docks."

"Agreed," Kakashi nodded then called to Erisu and Lee, "we're heading out!" They hopped to attention but the look of disappointment was plain on both faces. As the five ninja set off back towards the village Kakashi overheard Lee and Erisu talking.

"You look very lovely in that kimono, Erisu-san," Lee told her kindly, "it really brings out your eyes."

"Thank you!" She didn't sound as nervous as she usually did when people complimented her. "I've often thought your jumpsuit looks rather dashing." Kakashi glanced over his shoulder to see that Lee's face had gone quite red.

"It's for training," he said a little louder than necessary, "it gives me full range flexibility."

Erisu giggled. "It does look comfortable, and I suppose with your speed you make up for the lowered constitution that comes from not wearing armour?"

"Yes, exactly!" Lee was excited-as usual. "What about you? In that kimono you might have your mobility compromised if we get in a fight."

"I'm wearing my bandages, and kasuri mail underneath," she confided in an undertone, as though it were a scandalous secret.

"You're wearing chain mail under that? But you look so thin!"

"So Kakashi-kun," Gai began as they crossed the deserted Main Street and headed for the bridge, "I was thinking since you and Erisu-chan are wearing festival clothes you two should approach the informant while we remain hidden."

"Good idea, that'll give us an edge of it turns out to be a trap."

"Here," Gai produced two discreet earbuds and communicators. "If all goes without a hitch, head for the east side and we'll meet you on the road." Being as they still had over two hours before they were actually scheduled to meet the mole, they restocked at a surplus store before continuing on. Gai and Neji loaded up with the extra gear so that Erisu and Kakashi would look less conspicuous, although they remained fully armed beneath their clothes. Lee and Erisu were sharing some cotton candy and childishly discussing the Yokai stuffy.

"Alright," Kakashi wired himself as he spoke, "let's split up here and take separate routes. Yo, Erisu."

"Sir?" She hurried to his side and he handed her the communicator.

"See you shortly, one way or the other," he said to Gai, saluting him in farewell and the teams divided.

Kakashi filled Erisu in on the plan as they moved through the empty roads. The fireworks were still bursting in the distance and they looked like an ordinary couple heading home early.

"Might I ask, you and Lee-san seem to get on well..?"

"Oh yes," Erisu smiled, "he's a nice kid, isn't he?"

Her referring to him as kid dispelled any inklings that she might be interested in him. She'd be more likely to fall for Jiraiya than someone she considered a kid.

"He is," Kakashi agreed, "you were avoiding Neji-san like the plague though."

"Yeah," her eyes grew troubled, "he seems to have it in for me although I can't say what I could've done to slight him.."

"You did nothing," he assured her as the bridge came into sight, "that's just his disposition." Then he added in a lower voice, "stay on guard but remain nonchalant. We must appear ordinary."

She nodded and smiled as though he was telling a funny story and coiled her fingers in his. Startled, he eyed her but accepted this facade as they strolled hand in hand towards the bridge. A pasty and nervous old man with a blinded eye and blotchy face jumped as he caught sight of them. He was wearing a straw sugegasa and was signing Dog and Boar repeatedly as his identifying movement. They'd found their mole.

Before they'd reached earshot of him Erisu casually drew Kakashi aside to admire the lilies in the shallows.

"He's genuine," she told Kakashi quietly, somehow managing to smile while keeping her voice detached and serious, "he intends no deception and is frightened for his life. He desires safe passage from here but I can't determine whether he's been followed. All I know is he doesn't think he has been."

Privately impressed, Kakashi nodded and feigned rubbing his neck to turn on his communicator.

"He's legitimate," he reported to Gai, "I'm going to initiate contact now, are you in position?"

"Affirmative," Gai replied in their ears, "mission is a go."

Kakashi reclined against the rail of the bridge, caught the informant's eye and stretched his fingers into serpent and dragon. Relief crossed the informant's face. He was being too obvious...

Then Erisu clasped her hands to her mouth as though she'd only just noticed the man and waved like an excited schoolgirl.

"Oujisan!" She cried and, dragging Kakashi by the hand, ran to greet him. She flung her arms around the battered old man's neck and hugged him adoringly. "Oh Ouji, it's been ages! How've you been?"

Catching on, the weathered old shinobi grinned and hugged her back, looking slightly flushed and replied, "I've been fine, dear girl. Long time, long time."

"You remember my uncle?" She said to Kakashi happily, gesturing at the old man, "oh we must catch up! Walk with us?"

They set off across the bridge, Erisu arm in arm with the spy as though she'd known him her whole life. They passed a small group of merchants but no one batted an eye at the well dressed couple and their elderly companion. She chattered away, telling him all about the fireworks and festivities until they were safe within the cover of the trees.

Kakashi couldn't have been more satisfied. He was astonished by how easily she'd taken to deception and how flawlessly she lied. As they moved deeper into the woods Team Gai emerged on either side and flanked them. Erisu released the old man, (he looked disappointed that the dainty young woman was no longer hanging onto him) and returned faithfully to Kakashi's side.

After they were about a kilometre from the village, Erisu and Kakashi slipped into the trees to change back into their combat gear before the group set off again. When darkness had fallen too heavily for them to continue Kakashi summoned his ninken pack and they set up camp. They couldn't be too careful with an informant this important. Kakashi lit the campfire with fire style and they settled in the orange light while the hounds patrolled the shadows.

Kakashi noticed Erisu tending to the informant, well, fussing over him would be more accurate. She had set him up with bedding, supper and was now scolding him for a sunburn on his balding head, dabbing his face with a moist cloth. Kakashi smirked at her oddly motherly behaviour with the seasoned veteran who was enjoying the attention.

"Her acting on the bridge was lsuperb," commented Gai, who was also watching her as she was now urging him to drink from her canteen, "she handled herself like an infiltration expert. She'll make an amazing spy."

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed softly, "and she determined his authenticity before even speaking to him. We got stranded yesterday and she figured out our location and directed us back on track without a compass." Erisu was treating the burn with some creamy white ointment. "She has all the makings for an Anbu member for sure."

He silently thought of her distaste for the spotlight and burning desire to aid the village and became more convinced that she should join the Anbu as an undercover specialist.

Her hopes for the future had been more certain and admirable than any of his former students. Regardless of his deepening unrest about her secretiveness or her subtle rejection of him he knew Erisu was going to succeed.


	26. Chapter 24: Cursed

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

 ** _Cursed_**

~Erisu~

"How's our ward?" Kakashi asked as Erisu made her way to the campfire at last.

"He's sleeping," she reported, "I thought he'd never settle down, poor fellow, he was terrified."

"I think he was more keen to keep you at his side," Neji said coldly, "you do realize he's a fully qualified shinobi, right?"

Erisu felt her face warm with embarrassment as she knelt on her sleeping bag next to her sensei. "Yes," she answered guardedly, "but he's also seriously dehydrated, sunburnt, half starved, and showing symptoms of heatstroke. Another day in the wilderness and he'd have died of exposure."

"He wasn't in the wilderness," Neji pointed out, "he was at a festival."

Erisu shut down and plucked at her bandages dejectedly.

"Leave her alone Neji," Lee spoke up, "she's only doing her duty as medic."

"Lee's right Neji," Gai said sharply, "now get some sleep, all of you. The ninken are on guard and we need to be fully rested if more rogues attack on the road tomorrow."

The boys accepted their sensei's ruling and settled down for the night.

"Good night, Erisu-san," Lee said pleasantly as he burrowed into his bag.

"Sweet dreams," she answered softly as Team Gai all closed their eyes.

Kakashi brushed his fingers over Erisu's hand to catch her attention.

"How's your back?" He asked, "did you treat it after your bath?"

"Oh-um," she seized up as he moved closer to take a look, "yeah, but I'm not sure how well I did. It's hard to reach," She shouldered out of her kimono and slipped her mail over her head to reveal the vicious jagged tear in her shoulder blade. His hand gently removed the gauze and traced the stitches. He repositioned her between his knees so he could clean the injury, then she felt the warm hum of chakra on her pink and irritated flesh. She closed her eyes as he healed her, feeling his spiritual energy mingling with her cells.

She'd never been on the receiving end of medical ninjutsu before, except when she'd treated herself, but the feeling was wondrous. She let her body relax as her tingling tissue mended slowly beneath her sensei's warm hands. When he finally stopped she found she'd nearly fallen asleep in his arms.

"How's that?" He asked in a whisper so as to not wake the others.

"Perfect," she murmured over her bare shoulder. She gazed into his dark eye and realized, in that moment, just how happy she was. They were bathed, fed, rested, and had enjoyed a sweet, simple evening together at the festival. She'd had pocky and candy, he'd even bought her a plushie for no particular reason. Beautiful fireworks were still fresh in her mind. Their mission was so far a success, in some part thanks to her, and now they were safe together in the warmth of the campfire.

Erisu dropped her eyes to the smiling Kappa on her bedroll and sighed. A long, deep sigh of complete contentment.

"It was absolutely perfect."

"Risu," Kakashi began, he sounded odd, breathless.

She looked up at him curiously, his hair golden in the firelight.

"O-sama?"

"I..." His words seemed to be caught in his throat as he gazed at her with that dark grey eye, then he looked away. "I think you handled yourself marvellously on this mission, Risu, and my report to the Hokage will reflect that." Despite his praise she felt strangely disappointed.

"Thank you, Kakashi," she murmured, sliding back into her kimono, their legs still touching.

"I'm also going to recommend you for the Anbu," he said unexpectedly.

"What?!" She exclaimed, "seriously? But I'm only a-"

"Genin, I know," he finished for her, "rank is irrelevant for appointment to Anbu. You'll excel in the Black Ops."

"But Yuma-senpai said I wasn't qualified-"

He cut her off again, more sharply, "Yuma is mistaken. The Anbu is where you'll thrive."

She cocked her head and regarded him carefully. He seemed rather irritated. "Kakashi..?" She caught his eye and his expression softened, professionalism dropping.

"I think you'll be of most help there," he told her quietly, "at first I'd pegged you as an interrogator but you'd do better in the field. The Anbu is always in need of clever individuals with a knack for deception. Especially those who don't have an ego to get in the way of anonymity. That was Yuma-san's problem: too interested in personal glory to remain faceless."

"You knew him in the Anbu?" She asked, intrigued.

"We were partnered briefly," Kakashi admitted, "and although I don't like to speak ill of my comrades I feel I should inform you that he almost cost us a mission because of his arrogance. Respect him as your superior of course, but don't put too much stock in his claims just because of his rank. He tends to exaggerate." Erisu was sure Sota's statement about bad blood between Yuma and Kakashi was right but decided not to pry. Something in the nervous way his eye darted away from hers caused her to suddenly speak recklessly.

"I want to thank you, Kakashi, again, for everything you've done for me," she said rather quickly, "you didn't need to talk to Tsunade-sama, or mentor me, but you did and I'll always be grateful." He blinked slowly but didn't reply so she continued in the same hasty manner, "but the truth is I'm terrified. Terrified that I'll disappoint you. When I met you I felt everything change." Everything she'd been containing came flowing forth on her trembling breath. "I'm so fond of you and if I lost you because of some stupid blunder on my part I'd never forgive myself. Even though we don't know each other very well and I'm not a member of your team, or one of your close friends, I still hope that we'll be able to spend time together once I'm no longer your student. Cause if I lost you - erm - not that i mean you're mine or anything - cause that's ridiculous! I-I only mean that I really care about you," her face was growing redder and redder as the words tumbled out uncontrollably, "quite apart from my admiration for you as my sensei.. You've become very important in my life and I-I'm sorry, O-sama, I only mean that-"

He caught her face in his hands and her words halted instantly. She realized how close she'd come to making the confession and her heart was hammering violently. His eye had grown quite round as he stared at her in silence, fingers in her hair.

"Risu-chan..." He whispered.

"S-sensei..?" She answered feebly.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said it so firmly and honestly that it stole her breath away. As she gaped at him, lips parted, she found herself overwhelmed by the inexplicable desire to kiss him. Kiss him.

The thought was solidifying in her mind by the second. Time slowed around them and the forest slipped away. His hands were warm, shaking slightly, as he ran them through her thick, silky hair. Fingers caressed the back of her neck, cool on her exposed skin, his other hand glided down her spine. Holding her waist he pulled her into an embrace, her face buried in his chest. He was so warm, so strong, the only constant in her chaotic life. She pressed herself hard against him, feeling his heart pounding against her chest, his shaky breath in her hair.

But then it occurred to her how selfish she was being. She'd nearly expressed her love but that would've been the cruelest thing she could do to him. How dare she care for someone again after what she'd done last time? She suddenly recalled how she'd held Miwa against her in those last moments...

His face was against her neck now, she could feel the shape of his lips through his mask and found herself trembling uncontrollably. Blood stung her eyes as she was assaulted with a wave of loneliness. Kakashi's loneliness.

She couldn't do this to him.

Miwa's mother's voice came back to her: "you used her! Twisted her, made her love you, and then you left her!"

 _What are you doing Erisu?_

Erisu abruptly pulled away. Kakashi looked at her in confusion but made no move to stop her. She turned away from him, glimpsing hurt in his eye, and adjusted her sleeping bag.

"Forgive me," she said thickly, through barely suppressed tears, "we should probably get some rest."

"Risu, wait.." He turned her back to him and her heart palpated madly. "Do you really care for me that deeply?"

She hesitated. He was expecting her kokuhaku... The words were there, screaming in her mind but she couldn't speak them. She couldn't make the same mistake twice, destroying everything she touched. But as he gazed into her eyes she realized he could see her answer on her face. His bittersweet bliss whispered to her senses and she gasped as her eyes turned pink.

 _She glimpsed the figure of a girl with her back facing teenaged Kakashi. Her shoulder length hair rippling in the breeze._

 _"Kakashi-kun.." The girl whispered and Erisu saw, through Kakashi's eyes, his hand crackling with brilliant blue chidori. His hand plunged through flesh and bone, blood bursting forth alongside the chittering electricity as he killed her. Her eyes widened in astonished agony as she whispered his name for the last time..._

"Kakashi-kun..!" Erisu gasped, gripping her chest in horror. For a moment she was certain he'd just run her through with his lightning blade. She stared at him in shock. Blood was trickling from her eyes, droplets clinging to her lashes.

Comprehension crashed down on her. She recalled with sudden clarity the photograph of Kakashi's childhood team, the gentle, smiling girl, and the name carved into grave he spent so much time at...

"Risu," he gripped her in concern, "what is it?"

"Rin..." she whispered before she could stop herself. No words could describe the look in his eyes as he registered what she'd said. He released her immediately and rose suddenly to his feet.

"You..." His voice shook slightly, "...you know about her...? Did you-did you steal that from my eyes?"

"Kakashi I didn't mean to-" she rose clumsily in her distress, "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to..." but he couldn't seem to hear her as he ran his hands rapidly through his hair, staring around wildly. She'd never seen him this worked up.

Without another word, Kakashi turned on heel and strode into the night leaving Erisu standing alone in the firelight.

"Good morning!" Lee said through a huge yawn as he sat up, glossy black hair standing on end, "how was your sleep, Erisu-san?"

She blinked up at him and lied pleasantly through a perfect fake smile, "blissful, how bout you?"

"Rejuvenating!" He declared, bouncing to his feet energetically, "we should run the rest of the way!"

"That would be splendid Lee," beamed Gai in his deep hearty voice, "but first, how's our companion doing, my dear Erisu-chan?"

"Still asleep," she reported as she took the eggs she'd been frying off the fire, "I treated his burns again upon awakening and he seems to be mostly recovered from his heatstroke." It wasn't completely true, however, because Erisu hadn't slept. After Kakashi's disappearance she'd lain awake in guilty turmoil.

Neji was awake now as well, "where's Kakashi-sensei?"

"Patrolling," she answered cheerily as she divided the massive omelet into five equal portions, placing bowls over two to keep them warm. She handed breakfast to Team Gai with what she hoped was a carefree smile.

"Thank you!" Lee bowed and began shovelling the omelette into his mouth.

"It's delicious!" Praised Gai.

"Where's yours?" Asked Neji.

"I already ate," she lied sweetly, swallowing a foodpill, "I made tea." She was filling the tin camping cups when Kakashi returned. She poured scalding tea on her hand, cursing vehemently.

Lee was thunderstruck, "I didn't know you could swear."

"Good morning," Kakashi greeted them casually, "sleep well?" He crouched next to the fire and warmed his hands.

Heart pounding, Erisu mutely handed out the tea with trembling hands, then rose to check on their informant. Her fist was instinctively clenched in pain from her burns but she barely noticed as she gently prodded the old man awake.

"My apologies, Ojiisan," she murmured gently as he opened his bloodshot eyes, "but breakfast is ready and we'll soon be getting under way."

"Thank you," he coughed, sitting up. He still looked rather weak. "Did you say breakfast?"

Once they were all fed and packed, (Kakashi politely thanked Erisu for cooking but wouldn't meet her eye), the troupe headed off at a brisk pace. Gai was trying to convince the old man to ride on his back so they could move faster but their ward flat out refused. Neji was in a particularly foul mood as they continued through the shady woods and kept making snide remarks about Lee's over excited behaviour. Erisu brought up the rear to avoid Kakashi, under the pretence of keeping an eye on the mole, who was incredibly pleased by the company.

"You're too pretty to be a ninja," he told her as they passed through a patch of sunlight, "you should be a model or an actress!"

"Thank you, Ojiisan," she replied absently, "but I don't see how that would help the people."

"A beautiful woman like you could bring joy to every man just by letting them look at her!" He said rather imperiously, "you've got a very pretty face and a perfect figure but why is your hair so short? A real lady should keep her hair long to show her health. A man doesn't want a wife with hair like a boy! And you want to land a wealthy husband right?"

She nodded without really listening, her eyes on Kakashi's back up ahead.

"...Talking about wives, you remind me of my third. Amazing cook, practically lived in the kitchen, only way I'd have her!" He laughed at his sexist joke but no one else seemed to hear him. "Incredibly pretty but poor constitution. She died in a bout of flu one winter while I was stationed up north. My fourth wife though was a ninja like you..."

Erisu's heart was starting to accelerate as she stared fixedly at the red spiral on Kakashi's flak jacket. It seemed to be spinning, passing in and out of the shade was playing tricks on her.

"...I've always said a woman's place is in the home. They just can't handle the battlefield like a man. She completely cracked under the pressure during the war, it was a shame too cause she was a firebrand in the sheets..."

The forest was growing steadily colder and Erisu started to shiver, her face draining of warmth.

"...when they brought me in to identify her body I knew it was her right away, her eyes were so green you see. Still wide open as though death had surprised her..."

The red spiral was spinning so fast it was making Erisu dizzy.

"...the medical ninja doing the autopsy became my fifth wife, foxy little thing. You might not believe me but I was devilishly handsome in my youth. I could've charmed even Tsunade-hime out of her pants had I the chance. Her highborn blood would've been ideal for child bearing but she was seeing someone at the time..."

Erisu's leg was tremulous as she tried to maintain her composure despite the strange fluttering behind her sternum. Her blood flared agonizingly and a tiny whimper escaped her in spite of herself. Kakashi looked over his shoulder and into Erisu's eyes. Her stomach flipped over and her legs gave out. She dropped instantly into blackness.

"Erisu-san! Please wake up!"

"I knew she was lying when she'd said she'd already eaten. That's what she gets for starving herself."

"Poor constitution just like my third wife. She keeled over like that too, poor thing."

"Kakashi, has this ever happened before?"

"She's anaemic but she said she had it under control..."

"Oh Gai-sensei, is she going to be okay?!"

"Calm down Lee, it's her own fault."

"Risu, wake up."

Erisu blinked open her eyes and gazed groggily up at humanoid shadows. Someone helped her sit up.

Kakashi was peering at her analytically with his mismatched eyes, supporting her in his arms. Lee was hovering around her looking worried with Gai frowning at his side.

"I'm so so sorry," she scrambled to her feet, bowing as deep as she could, face hot with shame. Her leg was screaming, her veins full of acid. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperately wanting to disappear. Everyone's fiercely curious eyes were boring into her, their questions foaming in her mind. Questions that she couldn't answer...

"Are you alright?" Lee asked fretfully.

"I'm fine, it won't happen again," she said desperately, "what time is it? How long was I out? We need to keep going!"

"My thoughts exactly," drawled Neji, "we're wasting time standing around."

Erisu looked around for their valuable informant and spotted him eyeing her as though she'd just sprouted another head.

"Ojiisan, are you alright?" She asked, looking around madly for foes that she was certain would be dropping from the trees any second.

"Forget about me girl!" Barked the old man, "worry about yourself you look like the living dead!"

Erisu tried to dismiss this but everyone remained motionless, staring at her as though they were expecting her to faint again.

"I-I'm alright," she forced a laugh, trying to make them seem like the preposterous ones, "shall we carry on?"

"What's wrong with your leg?" Neji asked suddenly and Erisu looked down to see it shaking as though she had a tremor.

"J-just nerves," she stammered, "I'm itching to get going." Still no one moved.

"Erisu," Kakashi began quietly, "what's going on with you?"

A hoarse cry sounded from behind her and Erisu leapt out of her skin, spinning around to spot a crow perched in a berry bush, eyeing her curiously. Deciding that standing around was pointless, Erisu took the old man's hand and started off down the trail, realized she was going the wrong way and promptly turned and continued in the other direction. After a moment, the other shinobi followed.

After nearly an hour of tense silence they finally accepted that Erisu was alright and returned to relative normal. But Erisu was far from alright... She hadn't been in this much pain since the day the curse was first placed on her and it was taking all of her willpower to not curl up sobbing.

She couldn't understand why it was happening now..

~Kakashi~

Travel back to Konoha was slow but they were ahead of schedule and hadn't encountered any trouble on the road. Kakashi had been doing his best to keep his and Erisu's conversation the night before out of his mind. For a moment he'd thought she was going to confess her love to him. She'd rejected his own kokuhaku so if she had confessed how would he have responded? He hadn't the faintest and quite frankly no longer cared after what she'd stolen from him.

He couldn't bare to think of Rin, but it was even worse imagining that Erisu knew what he'd done.

But now he had another thing to worry about: she'd fainted again. She'd dropped to the ground without warning and remained unconscious for nearly ten minutes. Now she was trying to act as though nothing was wrong which made it all the more clear that something must be wrong indeed. Someone in perfect health wouldn't brush off fainting, only someone accustomed to fainting regularly would act as though it wasn't a big deal.

Erisu was ill and determined to keep it secret.

At long last they'd reached the wide dirt road that lead to the village's main gates. Lee and the informant were debating about martial art forms while Gai and Neji discussed battle tactics. Erisu had fallen behind. Kakashi slowed his pace to let her catch up but she'd stopped to lean against a tree. He paused to watch her, scrutinizing her stooped posture and pale skin. She wasn't just pale, she was pallid, and the mistiness of her eyes he now realized was caused by barely suppressed tears not dreaminess.

Erisu's left leg seemed to be vibrating as she leaned against the tree for support. Kakashi narrowed his eyes suspiciously but said nothing as he watched her massage her temple as though she was suffering from a migraine. She bowed her head, face hidden by a curtain of pale, ash blonde hair, and stifled a sob.

"Erisu," Kakashi called back to her, "we're nearly at the gates, are you coming?"

"Yeh, o'course," she gasped in a tight voice, "I'll be righ' there!"

Gai and the others were nearly out of sight now but still Kakashi hesitated. Something didn't feel quite right. Her voice had sounded off, almost slurred. He was certain her illness was something more than common lightheadedness. The last person he'd seen acting that way was Sasuke during the chūnin exams. Kakashi's eyes snapped up to Erisu. She couldn't be cursed?

Erisu was gripping her bandaged leg, knuckles white, torso rigid. Her whole body was visibly trembling now and she seemed to be depending on the tree for balance. He doubled back for her, the pallor of her skin was eerily white with more than a simple fatigue.

"Hey," he said but she seemed unable to hear him, her eyes were unfocused and she looked as though she might pass out again. " _Hey_ ," he repeated louder, she couldn't see him, " _Erisu_!"

She looked up and through him, her blue eyes creamy with a deathly fog. Her eyelids drooped as though she was barely awake and her jaw was slack, face blank. Alarmed, he grasped her shoulders to steady her as a shadow crossed her face. Her eyes rolled back in her head, the whites vibrating in her skull, her muscles had become completely stiff and she fell forward against him in a sort of semiconsciousness. Then her head involuntarily jerked back and she was suddenly convulsing and spasming in his arms. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream, an expression of sheer terror, then a disembodied moan rose from her gaping mouth and she went completely limp. Kakashi held her in silent shock as she crumpled against him. Her body was frightfully hot to the touch but her skin was absent of even the slightest trace of sweat. Horrified, he scooped her into his arms and took off for the village at a run. The colour in her face was draining rapidly, her skin translucent and nearly grey, dark spidery veins were visible in her throat and temples. She wasn't breathing. He accelerated into a full out sprint, passing Team Gai and vanishing through the gates.

"Help!" He burst into the hospital, "she needs help!"

A nurse raced to his side, another close behind with a stretcher, "what happened?"

"She's not breathing," he explained rapidly, "she was shaking, I don't think she could hear or see me. She was completely disoriented and then she just collapsed. I think she had a seizure."

"Lay her here," ordered the nurse and Kakashi lowered Erisu gently onto the stretcher, "she seems to be breathing now."

He stepped back as the other nurse rapidly connected Erisu to check her vitals.

"What's her name, is she your pupil?" Asked the first nurse, opening a chart to fill out her information.

"Ah, more or less," Kakashi replied, tearing his wide eye from the frail girl's body, "she's Hakuchō Erisu, genin, nineteen years old,"

"Ninja Registration Number?"

But before he could reply, the other nurse interjected, his face urgent, "BP 60/50, BPM 118, Temp 42.9 C, 47 mm Hg!"

" _Oxygen!_ " Shouted the female nurse and they started wheeling Erisu away at top speed, Kakashi in pursuit.

"Get an IV started," barked the second, as he broke away from them at a fork in the corridor, "I'll get the fluid replacement."

"She isn't dehydrated," Kakashi assured the nurse as the medic vanished around the corner, "she got lethargic and fainted."

"Well how hard were you working her?" Demanded the nurse, accusation ringing in each word, "she probably dropped from fatigue. I've seen it before: ninja training till they pass out. It's suicidal the way you all behave!"

His blood ran cold, "is she going to be alright?" His voice came out weaker than he'd intended.

The nurse didn't reply and pushed Erisu into an emergency operating room. Kakashi followed, despite knowing he wasn't permitted. More medics appeared, masked and gloved, and started stripping off her clothes. An IV was quickly filling her with saline and the monitors were started up.

"You can't be in here," someone told him, but he didn't hear them. The bandages had been cut off and Kakashi saw Erisu's left leg for the first time. A horrible black symbol had been seared into her thigh by some incomprehensible technique:

 ** _犠牲_** ** _:_**

 ** _Sacrifice._**

Spreading from the cursed symbols were blackened veins, as though tar ran through her blood, and the entire limb was discoloured and misshapen. Her skin was a mottled mauve, laced with purplish veins and bruises.

"Her organs are failing! Type her, we need blood!"

He wasn't aware of the shocked shouts from the medics, or the yells that she needed an emergency transfusion.

"I can't find a pulse in her foot! DVT left leg, I need a catheter!"

He glimpsed blood as they inserted a tube into her leg and began feeding it into her artery. Somewhere someone was issuing the summons for the Hokage. But Kakashi was deaf, ears ringing, as he stared at Erisu's motionless, half naked body on the operating table. He hadn't realized she was so lily white, or that her arms looked as delicate as a doll's. He hadn't noticed that her bones protruded from her fragile body or quite how innocent her face looked even in an oxygen mask...

He was being ushered from the room, Tsunade sweeping past him while barking orders, and the door slammed shut with a finality that echoed through his bones. He stared through the wired glass window at a flatlining monitor. Tsunade mutely shouting as she sent her chakra into the thin, motionless girl.

"Get out of the way!" Someone knocked him sideways as they raced into the room with several bags of blood.

Kakashi swayed on his feet, unseeing, and slumped against the wall. His mother, his father, Obito, Rin, Minato, Kushina... Even Sasuke, and now Erisu... Was he going to lose everyone?


	27. Chapter 25: Terminal

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

 ** _Terminal_**

~Kakashi~

"Kakashi!"

He turned. Gai, Lee, Neji, and the informant had arrived, looking concerned, or at least in Neji's case, curious.

"What's going on?" Lee asked as they neared, "we saw you run past with Erisu-san. Is she okay?"

"She's..." he stared at them blankly, lost for words, "she's in the operating room, with Tsunade-sama."

Lee whipped around to gape at the heavy metal doors, his round eyes expressing everything Kakashi felt.

"She seemed a little out of sorts on the mission," Neji murmured with a frown, "I didn't realize..."

"What's wrong with her?" Gai asked urgently, "will she be alright?"

"She's..." It was as though he'd forgotten how to speak. He just stood there, stiff and numb, trying to process what he'd just seen. "Can I have a word with Gai in private?" Kakashi asked the two younger ninja politely, trying to keep his voice light and even. They dipped their heads and the two specialized jōnin walked away a few paces.

Once they were out of earshot, Kakashi turned to his friend and said, "she's been cursed."

Gai's heavy brows came together, "what?!"

"The symbols for sacrifice have been," he groped for the word, "branded into her flesh somehow," he explained, "and her leg seems to have died."

"What do you mean died?"

"It looks poisoned or decayed, like a corpse."

Gai thought this over for a long moment, "she did faint on the mission. I thought she'd just over exerted herself. When she assured us she was fine I trusted her word because she's a medical ninja."

Kakashi closed his eyes and inhaled slowly.

"And she was taking a lot of food pills, did you notice?"

"Yeah, I've talked to her about that before. She said they were to combat her low constitution." He fought fiery anger rising in his chest like a phoenix, "I knew she was ill but I didn't intervene. I'd suspected it was more serious than she'd said but didn't think a civilian would've been cursed like that. It's Sasuke all over again."

Gai clasped Kakashi's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, "hey," he forced him to make eye contact, "don't blame yourself." His voice was deep and firm. Kakashi hadn't heard that tone since... Since Rin.

He turned away and ran his hand violently through his silver hair, the flatline on the monitor screen superimposed onto his vision. Kakashi rested his hands on the windowsill and heaved a shaky sigh as he looked out upon Konoha.

Gai leaned against the glass beside him and they watched the sun set in silence. Neji and Lee departed to deliver the informant to the Interrogation Force, but Gai remained at Kakashi's side as night enveloped the village in its deep blue blanket. His silent presence like a soothing wall to dam the feelings of dread.

"Kakashi-sensei," came a gentle feminine voice from behind them.

"Sakura," he said calmly as he faced her, "what do you need?"

"Hakuchō-san is stable," the girl replied, "she's been moved into a private room. She's not conscious yet but Tsunade-shishou has given you permission to visit her." He sensed the undertone of curiosity but ignored it.

"Thank you, Sakura," he replied stoically, "where is Tsunade-sama now?"

"With Hakuchō-san," his teammate replied, "I can show you."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Gai asked Kakashi.

"That's alright," he answered phlegmatically, "I'll fill you in later."

Gai nodded slowly, his brow still furrowed with concern, although it was for Kakashi not Erisu.

"And Thank you Gai-kun," Kakashi added with a reassuring eye smile, "I'll see you later."

"All right then," Gai relented, "I'll drop by your place tomorrow and you can let me know how she's doing." Then the other ninja, with a last worried glance over his shoulder, departed.

Sakura rapped on the hospital room door.

"Enter," came the strained voice of the Hokage, and Kakashi slid it open. The room was not unlike the one he himself had spent many nights recuperating in, but it seemed more ominous and cold from this angle. Tsunade and Shizune were standing close together beneath the window conversing in low voices, but Kakashi's eye sought out the shape he so desperately needed to see.

Erisu was barely clothed, in only a small pair of briefs and a camisole. Her porcelain skin was like a pincushion, full of acupuncture needles, as well as an IV and ICU. Seals and smouldering oils surrounded the girl, making the bed appear more like an altar. Despite all this, Erisu herself looked peaceful, as relaxed and carefree as a napping kitten.

"Kakashi," Tsunade began slowly as he approached the girl. Her cursed leg was wrapped in inscribed bandages, smelling strongly of herbs and incense but the purplish skin was still visible. "Kakashi," she repeated more firmly as he reached for Erisu's tiny white hand, "you mustn't touch her!"

"What is it?" He asked, turning to the Hokage at last, Shizune and Sakura looked on nervously, "the curse, have you identified it?"

She sighed deeply and shook her golden head. "It's not like any jutsu I've ever heard of. I don't think it's even shinobi in origin."

Kakashi chewed on that for a moment before saying, "do you know what it's doing to her at least?"

Shizune sucked in a sharp breath but Kakashi ignored her.

"It's killing her," Tsunade told him quietly.

He nodded, unsurprised. "How long does she have?"

"Our guess is about nine months, maybe less."

"Is she in pain?"

"We think she's been experiencing extreme pain, concentrated in her left leg, constantly for at least three years."

Kakashi looked down at Erisu's round, almost childlike face and swallowed hard. "She's been taking food pills and has fainted," he said bluntly, eye still on the small blonde girl.

"Yes," Tsunade's voice was far gentler than usual, "in order to maintain her ninja lifestyle, or any active lifestyle for that matter, she'd need powerful sedatives to control the pain and then even more extreme stimulants to compensate for the drowsiness the painkillers would cause. It's only natural that she'd be lightheaded and faint, in fact, it's astonishing she can even walk at all considering the extreme cellular decay."

"On top of that she's been performing jōnin level medical and genjutsus and completed an A rank mission," Shizune piped up, "under different circumstances she could have been an Anbu captain in her own right."

"But in light of these recently discovered circumstances," Kakashi said coldly, "what recommendations would you make, Tsunade-sama?"

The Hokage put her hands on her hips and looked down at the unconscious girl wearily. "She should retire from her ninja duties and live under my supervision," she replied, "with medication it's likely she can live almost pain free for her last few months."

Kakashi felt sick. All Erisu had wanted was to be a ninja, to contribute to Konoha and help the citizens of the village. He could see how her shy smile would break when she learned what her fate would be. Fury welled up inside him. Someone must have branded her with this parasitic mark, doomed her to rot.

"Do you know who could have done this to her?" He asked, a new edge in his voice.

"I can't tell by the mark alone," Tsunade answered uncertainly, "as I said, it's unlike anything I've seen before."

"When will she regain consciousness?" He asked instead.

"By morning," the Hokage replied, "hopefully."

Kakashi rounded on her, "hopefully?" He echoed in a dead voice.

"There is a possibility she will die from the induced coma."

"You induced a comatose state that had the chance of killing her?" He struggled to keep the tremor from his voice.

"She was on the brink of death already, the machines were keeping her alive. This way we were in control of the depth of her unconsciousness."

Kakashi breathed, hands in his hair, and looked back down at Erisu's mottled leg. "What is wrong with her leg exactly?"

"We're not completely sure," Tsunade admitted, "there was a deep vein thrombus, a blood clot, blocking her artery at the source of the curse and cutting off blood supply to the leg. We managed to dissolve the blockage but the damage was already done. It caused limb infarction, her leg muscle is dying from a lack of oxygen, that's what's causing the discolouration or Cyanosis. The other organs in her body are oxygen deprived as well, her blood is extremely anemic, hence the transfusion. But the tissue death in the rest of her body is happening at a much slower rate than her leg. There was some amateur attempt to confine the curse to the leg. My guess is the sealing worked up until about a year ago when it weakened and the curse started to spread.

"We can treat the symptoms, try to build up her iron, substitute her oxygen and keep her on blood thinners, but without being able to break the curse it will be terminal."

Silence filled the room as Tsunade's final word resonated in them all. Kakashi regretted dismissing Gai as he stared unseeingly at the girl before him. This must be how Gai felt when Lee had damaged his spine in the Chūnin Exams preliminary battle. It was as if his veins had been filled with lead. Who could have done this to such a kind and gentle girl? She was so generous and benevolent with a passion for charity. Why would someone target her?

"Kakashi..." Tsunade was at his side now. "I won't give up on her. I'm going to try to find a cure, but until I do she needs to take it easy, pushing herself will only make the damage accelerate."

He nodded in understanding.

"You are the only person Erisu-san seems to trust," she placed a hand on his back comfortingly, "When she wakes up try to find out who did this to her. It'll give me a lot more to go on."

"I will," he replied, he would find out whether Erisu told him or not.

"Where is she?" Yuma burst through the door and froze as he took in Erisu's condition. He looked from Tsunade to Kakashi then back to Erisu, his mouth open with grief.

Kakashi felt himself stiffen at the sight of the other shinobi. "Calm yourself, Yuma-san," he said.

"What happened, senpai?" Yuma asked quietly as he reached the edge of Erisu's bed, then he noticed her leg and recoiled in revulsion, "what's wrong with her leg?!"

Kakashi thrust his hands into his pockets to keep himself from striking him and eyed Erisu's potential captain in cold silence. He wouldn't justify that with an answer.

"Cyanosis," Tsunade told him, "it's discoloured from oxygen deprivation."

"Oxygen depri-but she'll get better?" No one answered. "She'll get better, right?" He repeated more desperately.

"Yuma-san," Kakashi said emotionlessly, "Erisu will not be able to be a member of your team. I suggest you request a replacement."

"A replacement?" Yuma whipped around to face the more seasoned ninja, his pale eyes like white fire, "you think that's what I care about?"

Kakashi blinked.

"Of course that's what Reiketsu-Kakashi would say," he sneered, "she practically worships you and you don't bat an eye."

"Yuma-san!" Shizune began but Kakashi quelled her with a glance.

"What are you getting at, Yuma?" he asked icily.

"You don't deserve, Erisu-chan," Yuma was inches from Kakashi's face, "she'll figure that out soon enough, and she'll realize who really cares about her."

"I don't think this is the time or the pace to be expressing your insecurities," Kakashi replied cooly, hands still in his pockets, "do you?"

"You think you're better than the rest of us just cause you were the protege of the Yondaime?" Yuma jeered, "well done good that's done you, you can't protect your teammates and you can't protect your pupils! You might as well have killed her in cold blood like you did to Rin!"

Kakashi snapped and moved forward before Yuma could even blink. He pressed the cold blade of a kunai under the Hyūga's jaw, drawing blood.

"Don't say another word," he said dangerously in his former partner's ear. "Do you understand me?"

Yuma's face contorted but he retreated a few steps and looked back down at Erisu instead. Her eyelashes fluttered, black and lacy on her pale colourless skin. Kakashi slipped his weapon back into his holster, his eyes burning holes into Yuma's back.

"Alright," barked Tsunade, the tension had irritated her, "everyone out, she needs space to recover!"

Sakura and Shizune ducked out immediately, knowing not to test fate when Tsunade's temper was involved. Yuma and Kakashi hesitated, a silent power struggle of who would stay longest. Yuma gave in first and slunk towards the door, wiping the river of blood trickling from his jaw as he went. He stopped, fingers on the door handle, and looked back at the silver haired shinobi.

"Just remember, _senpai_ ," Yuma spat the honorific, "this happened while she was under _your_ watch, not mine." Then he skulked from the room, leaving Kakashi alone with the Hokage.

"Tsunade-sama," he began once the door had slid shut. She looked up at him, hazel eyes tired and troubled. "Did Erisu give you the name of her previous residence? The village she lived in before returning to Konoha?"

Tsunade thought for a moment, "I can't recall."

"Erisu mentioned that her mother feared and scorned the shinobi way of life and that she'd travelled back to Konohagakure from a village to the north. I wondered if she was from the Land of Iron."

"Samurai," Tsunade breathed, catching his train of thought, "that's an intriguing hypothesis. I'll have Shizune bring me all the records we have on samurai medicine and rituals. I'll even send a letter to Mifune-sama to see if they know anything about the Sacrifice Curse."

"Thank you, Ohime," he bowed in gratitude and receded.

"Kakashi." He paused, Tsunade's eyes shone with unshed tears. "I'll do everything within my power to save her, I promise."

"Thank you," he whispered and left the room.

Kakashi spent the night in a silent vigil on the roof of the hospital, connecting constellations in the sky. He spotted the pattern that Erisu had pointed out to look like Pakkun and found it hard to believe that only yesterday they'd been standing on the rippling surface of Demon Lake. He wondered idly how early Yamanaka's opened. As the rising sun smeared the sky in a peachy haze the stars blinked out one by one. He rose to his feet, legs stiff and cold, and dropped into the street below. Konoha slept as Kakashi made his way slowly towards the flower shop, eyes hollow.

Yamanaka Ino looked up in surprise when Kakashi ducked into her shop. She was watering the flowers and blinked her dark teal eyes, curious as to why someone had arrived mere moments after opening.

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," she bowed respectfully and swept over to a shelf containing various shades of chrysanthemums, "the usual?"

"Actually," he paused and glanced at a bouquet of scarlet roses, "I had something else in mind today."

Following his gaze Ino's eyes widened further, mouth open slightly.

"The traditional flower for love," she said as she moved to join him near the roses, "there are lots to chose from if that's what you want to convey. Take forget-me-nots for example," she gestured towards a cluster of tiny glue flowers, "they symbolize true love. Or maybe," she glanced sidelong at him, "gardenias for secret love?"

But he'd just spotted a collection of beautiful, opalescent flowers on a long silvery stems. The white petals were drilled and feathery and the flowers greatly resembled a bird in flight. He'd seen them somewhere before.

"What are these?" He asked quietly as he leaned forward to look closer. The Hakuchō emblem was of a white swan and this flower so amazingly resembled it that it was almost too perfect.

"Those are White Egrets," Ino answered wisely, "they're a very rare variation of orchid and are usually quite difficult to cultivate. They mean 'my thoughts will follow you into your dreams'."

Of course, Erisu had gifted them to him when he's been hospitalized after the Kazekage rescue mission. "Perfect," he whispered solemnly, "I'll take one."

"Just one?" A single flower was often reserved for lovers but Kakashi felt that any more would be too much.

"Yes please," he straightened calmly, and proceeded to the till in silence.

~Erisu~

The whitewashed walls of the hospital greeted her as Erisu blinked open her eyes. Vaguely conscious of the many wires and needles in her body she turned her head, the horribly familiar beeping of the monitor probing her senses. She lay gazing blankly out the window, in a daze, breathing in the dry oxygen that was pumped into her nose. Metal tabs were stuck to her chest, monitoring her heart, several IVs protruded from her bruised arms, and her leg had been freshly bandaged. Paper seals were fastened to the tensor wrappings, in an attempt to contain the curse. Morning light streamed through the glass but she didn't see it, nor did she see the emerald leaves dancing in the summer breeze. The door slid open and a physician entered, he didn't wear any symbol that linked him with Konoha, but Erisu could recognize a ninja trained medic instantly.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," he greeted in a failed attempt at lightheartedness, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine," she said dully, returning her glassy blue eyes to the window, "I'm ready to be released."

"R-really? I think we need to talk about your leg."

"What about it?" She asked with zero curiosity.

The doctor seated himself at the foot of the bed and gestured to her useless limb, "this curse mark is unlike anything I've seen, even Tsunade-hime can't identify it," he told her gently, "could you tell me how you got it?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't," she replied heavily.

"You don't know?"

"I can't say," her words were clipped and she tried to sound polite, "I'm unable to speak about it."

"Have you been threatened?" He prompted, "we can put you into protective custody if that's the problem." She shook her head mutely and lowered her eyes to the bandaged extremity.

"I feel obligated to tell you that the curse mark is spreading," he said quietly, "at this rate you only have-"

"Less than a year," she finished for him, "yes I know." A solemn silence followed where neither could look the other in the eye.

"Twenty years is not much of a life," he pressed, "if you would just tell Tsunade-hime-"

"I'll manage," she interrupted, "as long as I can make myself useful before the end it won't have been wasted." She gazed back out the glass, aware of the medical-nin's despairing expression on her, and tried to block out his regret before she felt it too. If she was to die she had to make the most of her life. It was all that mattered.

"I have no interest in seeing Tsunade-sama," she said, "but I would like to resume my duties. How soon will I be discharged?"

"I'm sorry, but the Hokage has expressly dictated that you remain in hospice."

"I must resume my duties," she said again, struggling to sit up, "I must-" a wave of nausea overcame her and she convulsed, dry heaving. The medic pulled the string for help and a nurse rushed to his aid. Erisu stared at them through a darkened fog, they were muted by the wringing in her ears. She knew they were issuing summons for the Hokage as another nurse came at her with a syringe of sedatives. Terrified, Erisu ripped the IVs from her arms and fought past the medical-nin as she made a break for the window. Her leg had been completely numbed and she sagged on the ghost limb. Hands tore at her hospital gown as she staggered away, exceptionally fast despite her disability. Her vision was pixilated and her face had gone cold from a lack of blood. She yanked herself free from the oxygen supply and plunged through the open window.

Her head cleared as she plummeted two stories and hit the dry, cracked ground in a roll. On her feet in an instant, Erisu raced away towards the forest.

~Kakashi~

"What do you mean she's gone?" Bellowed Tsunade in a rage, "I specifically ordered a security detail to patrol outside her room!"

"She went out the window," the doctor explained, cowering beneath his Hokage's fury, "I didn't think she could even sit up, let alone fight off me and two nurses!"

Tsunade opened her mouth to shout a reply but Kakashi overruled her in a mellow voice. "It's alright," he told her, "I'll find her. I think I know where she is."

He silently set the single White Egret in its simple glass vase on the bedside table and followed Erisu's path through the window.

The third training ground was deserted and deceptively peaceful. Kakashi headed directly for Erisu's favourite willow tree, his sandals sending clouds of dandelion seeds into the air, and ducked under the curtain of willow branches. Not bothering to look up, he seated himself in the swaying grass at its base. After a moment, Erisu lowered herself from the branches and settled herself in the grass beside him. Her face was turned away but he knew she was crying.

"You gave us quite the scare, running off like that," he said, "you really should be resting."

"I must resume my duties," she answered shakily through her silent sobs, "I must make myself useful."

"Risu-chan..." he took her tiny porcelain hand in his. Her wrists were bleeding from her violent removal of the needles; he placed his other palm over the bruised puncture holes.

"Do you know..?" She asked in a small, strained voice and he closed his eyes at the broken sound of it.

"I do," he swallowed hard and Erisu slumped against him, her body shaking in soundless grief. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close against his chest, feeling her heartache in her every breath. "Risu-chan..." He buried his masked face in her pale hair, "...why didn't you tell me?" Her sobs increased, although the only sound she made was a few gasping breaths. She was trembling with fear and shame. He hugged her tighter and breathed in her sweet, sugary scent, now spiced by herbs and incense. Erisu clung to him like a lifeboat, curled across his lap, face hidden in the gap between the collar of his flack jacket and his neck. Three days prior she was dancing at the festival like a carefree child... He wished they were back at the lakeside under the glow of the fireworks.

Time lost all meaning as they sat there, grieving in silence beneath the ancient willow that weeped alongside them. The sun filtered through the trees, light catching in the sieve of leaves and turning the canopy into a ceiling of brilliant, glowing green. The forest was a sea of biolumessent algae spread above as if gravity were reversed. Beneath the cascading, sinewy threads of a weeping willow Kakashi held Erisu until she passed out from exhaustion in his arms, limp as a ragdoll. He lifted her fragile body as he stood and, cradling her tenderly, carried her back to the hospital.


	28. Chapter 26: Coincidences and Conclusions

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

 ** _Coincidences and Conclusions_**

~Erisu~

The bleeping of a monitor was Erisu's companion when she awoke, her room empty. She lay there for a few minutes assaulting herself mentally for her stupidity and weakness. She'd been foolish to think she could actually fulfil her debt in her compromised condition. The truth was out now and all she could do was try and control the damage. She had to prevent them from finding out the whole story-she wouldn't be able to bear the shame if it came to the surface. She could only imagine Kakashi's silent rage if he uncovered everything that'd happened after Erisu left Konohagakure. Then voices from the hall caught her attention.

"...she wouldn't tell you anything?" Tsunade's frustration was obvious.

"She's refusing to speak about it at all." Kakashi answered.

"Well, we'll have to keep her under observation then. If she's determined to hide it then it must be something serious. I'm going to consider her a security risk."

"Erisu-chan a threat to Konoha? _Impossible_." Kiyomi was present too.

"The Hokage has a point," Kakashi sighed, "until we know the details we can't be sure that whoever cursed her might track her back to the village."

"Or Erisu herself could be a spy or imposter of some sort," Tsunade continued darkly, "we still don't know what Hiroki and those unmarked infiltrators were after and Erisu conveniently failed to detect his plans despite her abilities."

"I'm sorry Tsunade-sama but that's ridiculous!" Kiyomi's voice was close to a shout now. "She's not capable of something like that! Don't forget that she saved Yuma-Taichou's life!"

"A perfect cover. Plan a coup and play the part of the hero to gain our trust-"

"Now, Tsunade-sama," Kakashi spoke over her, "I think that's a bit far fetched. I knew Hiroki and he was never the sharpest tool, always desperate for more glory despite his mediocre skill. He was nearly thirty before finally being promoted to Chūnin after all. He was probably offered some yen and took up a job for our rivals. Seeing as his target was a Hyūga I'd say they were probably after the Byakugan. I pointed this out already when you brought this up before and I'll say it again: Erisu has my full confidence."

"Well yes. Maybe she wasn't allied with those attackers but this whole situation is still too shady for my liking." Tsunade huffed audibly. "I should've been more extensive in the background check; I made her a shinobi way too quickly. This Akatsuki threat is making us so undermanned I thought any extra help could only benefit the village..."

"Well you were right," Kiyomi said loudly, "Erisu-chan's been a great help! Right Kakashi-senpai?"

Kakashi didn't answer for a horribly long time, then: "she passed out twice during a very important mission," he said quietly, "we were already one member short with Tenten-san absent, if we'd been ambushed while she was unconscious..."

"I don't believe this!" Kiyomi fumed, "you're Mr. Admirable Hero, how can you be speaking against her?"

"Mr. Hero? What...? Never mind. I'm not speaking against her I'm speaking the truth," Kakashi paused, considering his words, "my own feelings aside we should investigate this situation fully. We already know that she was acquainted with Uchiha Itachi and that she was friends with and involved in the death of a servant of Orochimaru-sama-"

" _What?!_ " Kiyomi was appalled.

"-and that she was studying ninjutsu as a rogue for years. She won't disclose where she was or what she was doing during her absence, only that she briefly tended the grounds of The Fire Temple and was aquatinted with Chiriku-sama. I recommend we start there." He was silent for another long interval. "Let's take another look at her academy records as well. We might be able to contact her old instructor and classmates. Maybe uncover who her parents were and why she was disowned."

"You never mentioned her familiarity with Itachi." Tsunade's voice could've drawn blood.

"Many people knew Itachi," Kakashi said, "including myself. I didn't mention it because I thought it would be incriminating."

"Quite right." Tsunade was barely containing her anger now. "So she was friends with Itachi, left the village shortly after the Uchiha Downfall, and then returned why?"

"To see Sasu-" Kakashi cut himself off and the silence was palpable. "...to see Sasuke's battle in the Chūnin Exams."

"And then she left again immediately after the Konoha Crush and who arrived in the village shortly thereafter?"

" _Itachi_." Kakashi and Kiyomi said together.

"And when you and her encountered each other in the forest you'd just been engaged with Akatsuki spies," Tsunade said, "the hero plot I suspected her of, just under different circumstances. You can't say that's all just coincidence."

"The timeline fits..." Kiyomi's voice was scarcely audible.

"I thought she was strangely informed for someone who'd been supposedly isolated," Kakashi's voice was callous.

"Did you ever discuss Naruto's training with her?" Tsunade asked urgently, "the search efforts for Sasuke? Our defensive plans in case the Akatsuki attacks?"

"... She could've been feeding everything to Itachi this whole time ..." Kakashi had never sounded so murderous. "I'm the security leak."

"Woah woah back up!" Kiyomi's fierceness had returned. "This is _Erisu_ we're talking about! Sweet, shy little Erisu-chan! Do either of you actually think she's capable of this?"

The crackling silence returned.

"Kakashi," Tsunade prompted, "you know her best."

"Do I?" He exhaled through gritted teeth. "I was actually grooming her for the Anbu. She's stealthy, clever, deceptive, a brilliant actor, and she has the advantage of being able to sense other's emotions while concealing her own. She's capable of anything."

"But... Everything she knew about you..." Kiyomi was desperate to find a flaw in the theory. "...she _loves_ you!"

"Itachi knew me well from our days in the Anbu," Kakashi replied coldly, "he could've told her everything she needed to know to weasel into my good graces... _And I actually fell for it._ "

"Alright!" Tsunade snapped authoritatively, "I want a jōnin outside her door at all times and at least two others patrolling the building in case she tries to escape again! Kiyomi, I want you and your team to track down Erisu's academy instructor and classmates."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Kakashi, contact Jiraiya and tell him to report to me immediately! Then resume your training with Naruto, they could strike at any time!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Meanwhile I'll be changing every patrol route, every strategy plan, everything. They could have details of who knows what by now! We need to contact Chiriku-sama immediately..." Their footfalls began to recede and their voices faded.

Erisu stared up at the ceiling and swallowed hard, dread and terror churning in her gut. She was too horrified to cope. Now that they'd come to that conclusion what were they going to do to her?


	29. Chapter 27: The Truth

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

 ** _The Truth_**

~Erisu~

Erisu slid the door back slightly and peeked through into the hall. There was a man chewing a senbun and surveying the passerbys standing next to her door. He glanced over at her.

"Hakuchō-san? What do you need?" He asked as Erisu's eyes flicked up at his backwards ninja bandana.

"Oh, hello. Is Hatake Kakashi available to speak with me..?"

He raised his brows and regarded her critically. "I could ask for him," he said guardedly, "why?"

She struggled internally for a moment. "There's an urgent matter I need to discuss with him."

"Uh huh." He continued studying her. "I'll let him know when I'm relieved from my shift."

"Yes, sir." She ducked back into her room. Pacing restlessly Erisu caught sight of another shinobi skirting the hospital. So Tsunade was serious about appointing guards... Erisu had hoped the Hokage had been toying with her. But even Erisu had to admit that she'd been a fool, her insistence to be so secretive and evasive was now coming back to bite her.

 _You reap what you sow_ , she thought despairingly, _distrust others and they'll distrust you._

She should've been forthcoming with Kakashi right from the start, lying to him was pointless as he was always going to find out in the end. Trying to keep a secret while surrounded by ninjas wasn't the most fail safe plan. And now they'd put their brilliant deductive reasoning together and come to the wrong conclusion, a conclusion that'd resulted in her isolation and confinement to her hospital room. There was only one way out of it and that was to tell Kakashi the truth.

Erisu slumped against the wall and tried to control her emotions. Her heart throbbed with anxiety and she forced herself to reign in her panic. A breakdown wasn't going to solve anything; she needed to stop being so weak.

She cracked open the door again just as Shizune rounded a corner looking stricken.

"Shizune," the guard greeted her as she neared, "is something wrong?"

"Genma.." Her dark eyes were round. She leaned in to whisper to him, unaware of Erisu's spying. "The Akatsuki just attacked the Fire Temple."

"What..!?" He exclaimed in a hush, "and the monks..?"

"Only one survivor. He came straight to the Hokage."

"How many Akatsuki were there?" Genma was emitting swaths of shock and anger.

"That's the worst part," Shizune said, "two men killed all the monks themselves. I just finished mobilizing a new task force consisting of twenty platoons on Tsunade-sama's orders to scour the land in search of the Akatsuki members and keep them from leaving the country."

Gemna cursed quietly, then he looked up at her, eyes troubled. "And Asuma-san?"

Shizune nodded in confirmation of his thoughts. "He's leading one of the teams. Nara Shikamaru, Kotetsu Hagane, and Izumo Kamizuki are with him. They just left for the temple."

They gazed at each other for a few moments and their vibe was that of dread. But Erisu was barely aware of this now as she receded back into her room. Chiriku-sama and the others... They had been some of the few who'd cared for her after she'd lost Miwa. Where she'd be now if she hadn't been allowed to take refuge at the temple after the Konoha Crush she didn't know. She'd left in the night without a word. She hadn't bid them farewell, hadn't thanked them for their hospitality, she'd been too ashamed to face them after fainting in the market. Too afraid that they'd try to find the person responsible for her curse mark...and now they were dead. She was always shutting people out, thinking she was protecting them but in reality she was only protecting herself. She was a selfish coward.

Erisu hated herself more in that moment than ever before. She crumpled to the floor and buried her face in her knees, finally succumbing to tears. She'd taken the monks for granted and now they were gone.

*knock knock knock*

Erisu looked up as the door glided open and Kakashi entered. He looked down at her silently then closed the door. Without speaking he moved to her side and sat down beside her.

"You've heard about the Fire Temple I take it?" He asked quietly, his lopsided headband and mask obscuring his face where he sat to her left.

"Shizune-senpai just informed my guard," she answered.

"How long did you live there as groundskeeper?"

"About a year or so." Erisu dropped her eyes to her bare feet. "I fainted while shopping for them in the nearest town and was taken to the local hospital. The doctor discovered the Mark and was intending to transfer me to Konoha. I left that night."

"Do you want to die, Erisu?" He asked monotonously.

She'd been so resigned to her fate that she hadn't put much thought into her wants at all. Her only desire had been to accomplish something of value before the end.

"I'm not afraid of death," she told him, "not the void, the darkness, or the possibility of an afterlife. I'm not even afraid of the bottomless abyss of nothing that may await me. Life has always been more frightening, more horrible. The prospect of having to continue on in this world, trapped in my disabled body is far worse than the eternal sleep of death and decay. So," she paused then, considering her words carefully, "I suppose I do desire death but only as an escape from this pointless life of mine."

"I didn't think you were that self centred," his voice was cold, "have you put no thought into the suffering your passing would cause those around you? Do you care so little for your friends that you'd damn them to grief at your graveside? I thought you were better than that."

"Kakashi..."

"Chiriku-sama is dead," he went on, "describe to me your grief, your regret, your anger, then try to justify putting those who love you through that. Could you really just leave everyone and break their hearts like that? Igniting their lives like a funeral pier, forcing them to don black and attend your funeral?" He turned at last to look her in the eye, his quicksilver iris full of misery. "Would you do that to me?"

"Kakashi..." She repeated feebly.

He stood and swept across to the window, silhouetted against the blazing summer sun. "I was orphaned at a very young age," he said, "my mother died when I was still very small and I was raised by my father, The White Fang of Konoha. He was a genius, an amazing shinobi and I was proud to be his son.

"But when on a mission he was forced to make a choice, a choice between accomplishing the directive or saving his comrades. He sacrificed the mission for his teammates. In the Shinobi world the mission always comes first. No one would've blamed him for letting the others die in order to complete the directive and his heroism was seen as a betrayal of our ways. He was ostracized and shamed. His name was sullied and he couldn't even show his face in public."

Kakashi faced her, his hair glowing white in the light that streamed through the glass behind him, his expression lost in shadow. "He committed suicide," he said, "I found his body."

"Kakashi..." She whispered yet again, moving towards him, but he raised his hand to halt her.

"I hated him for years," his voice was hard and bitter, "despised him for failing his mission, for breaking the law. Despised him for leaving me alone. I held rules and regulations above all else after that. I rose through the ranks faster than anyone my age but I was arrogant, even cruel. It took another avoidable death to make me see the error of my ways."

He ran his hand through his hair, shoulders sagged and face downcast. When he looked up again his aura had changed and Erisu knew she was allowed to approach. She glided towards him, her hospital gown swishing around her bandages and gazed up at his dark eye.

"Comradeship is more than just teamwork Risu-chan," he told her softly, taking her hand in his, "it's about respect, sacrifice, and putting your friends' needs before your own. I know you're not a spy, I know you're not my enemy, but you're torturing me more than the Akatsuki ever could."

"But everything you said..." Erisu searched his eye desperately. "About Itachi-sanpai..?"

"It was Tsunade-sama's idea," Kakashi explained, "to try and scare you into coming forward with the truth. I was opposed to it but when Genma-san told me just now that you'd requested a meeting with me I knew it'd worked."

Erisu pulled her hand from his, eying him reproachfully. "You tricked me?"

"Not entirely. The Hokage and Elders don't trust you. They're outraged that your curse stayed a secret for so long." Kakashi's voice was unapologetic as he surveyed her calmly. "But I think you're ready now, aren't you Risu?"

"I..." She retreated a few more steps, leg trembling. "If I tell you will you promise me something?"

"Promise you what?"

"Promise you won't try to find them, that you'll leave them be."

"You know I can't agree to that," he said, stepping forward, "I'm going to save you. You just need to tell me how."

"...Aya," Erisu whispered, "her name is Hakuchō Aya."

"You don't mean...?"

"Yes," Erisu looked up at Kakashi and her voice broke, "I was cursed by my mother."


	30. Chapter 28: Hakuchō Aya

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT  
** ** _Hakuchō Aya_**

~Kakashi~

Kakashi rapped on the door to the Hokage's office. He was trying to wrap his head around what he'd just learned; there was no time to waste. Shizune invited him inside and he strode across the vast round room to the cluttered desk. Tsunade's head was bowed as she went through mission reports.

"Tsunade-sama," his voice was cool when he spoke despite his rapidly growing confusion and anger, "I know who cursed Erisu-san."

The Sannin looked up sharply, "who?" She prompted, on her feet instantly.

Kakashi steadied himself. "Hakuchō Aya, her mother." Shizune stiffened in shock beside him, her dark eyes round in horror.

" _Her own mother..?!_ " Tsunade was visibly shaken. "How? Why?"

"She wouldn't give me any details," he replied guardedly, "she told me not to pursue her mother."

"She's a loyal daughter," the blonde woman sighed, hands on her hips, "but we have a name, we should be able to track her down. What else did she say?"

"Nothing." Kakashi shook his head. "...but there was something else I wanted to discuss," he paused, "I recommend keep Erisu-san hospitalized and under observation."

"Why? Has she gotten worse?"

"I suspect she may attempt suicide," he answered bluntly, "I've seen that hollow expression before and don't think we should take any chances." Tsunade lowered herself back into her chair, expression bleak.

"If that's the case..." She spoke tentatively, "...should we really waste the manpower in a search effort for a cure she doesn't want?"

"' _Waste_ '?" He exhaled and swallowed. "Forgive me, Hime-sama, but saving Erisu-san's life would not be a waste."

"I only meant-"

But he spoke over her, "she doesn't want to die, she just wants to start living. The amount of suffering she's experiencing prevents her from having a proper life. She wants to be a ninja." Tsunade had gone quite still, one didn't interrupt their Hokage lightly. They locked gazes in silence for a tense and awkward moment.

"Do you think the death of the Fire Temple monks was a catalyst?" Shizune asked, breaking the silence. They both stared at her. She clamped her mouth shut and looked fearfully from Tsunade to Kakashi, and back again.

"You feel very strongly about this," the Hokage said, turning back to the jōnin and steepling her fingers. Kakashi hesitated, he disliked people assigning feelings to him, but in this case she was right.

"Yes," he answered stoically.

She pursed her lips, "I wasn't aware you two were so close. Of course I understand the bond between a master and pupil but..." She trailed off and Kakashi forced himself to ignore the heat of her assistant's gaze. "Alright, Kakashi," she pulled up a paper and pen, "Shizune, find me everything you know about Hakuchō Aya."

While awaiting for Tsunade to compile all the information on Aya, Kakashi decided to continue his detective work on Erisu's case on his own. Naruto was still working on stopping the flow of Tenzō's waterfall and didn't really need Kakashi's help at the moment.

On Erisu's balcony Kakashi produced some lock picks and had the door open in moments. He slipped inside the dark empty apartment and felt a fresh wave of anger and misery wash over him as he spotted the Kappa doll on Erisu's bed. He sat down on the mattress and took the plushy in his hands. It was softer than velvet and still smelled like cotton candy and pocky. Looking over at her black pillows he saw a couple silvery blonde hairs from Erisu's messy, dream filled head.

An inquisitive meow sounded from behind him and Kakashi saw Aiko and Ookami cuddled on one of the many pieces of carpeted cat furniture.

"How're you two doing?" He asked quietly and Ookami gave him a slow blink in response. Aiko resumed grooming the tuxedo tom and Kakashi looked back down at the Kappa. Setting the stuffy back on the bed Kakashi looked over the complicated diagrams and maps on the walls for clues. He smiled to himself upon noticing that some of the maps were of fictional worlds from fantasy stories. Most of the diagrams were anatomical guides to parts of the human body for medical students, such as skeletons, chakra systems, and the complexity of the human brain. Scrolls and highly advanced jutsu instructions were also displayed on the drab walls. He poured over them meticulously for any hint as to what the sacrifice ritual might've entailed but found nothing of any relevance.

Kakashi speed read any books he thought might have any significance to the case and rifled through many papers on Erisu's desk. He found the drawing she'd done of him and slumped against the wall to look it over again. The way she'd so easily captured his suffering after having only known him for a short while had been compelling to him and rather flattering. He recalled what she'd said to him and set the drawing aside, wiping his eye.

Then Kakashi spotted a framed photo on the bedside table. It was a girl, roughly fourteen years old at a guess with startlingly red hair and piercing, golden yellow eyes. Her hair was short and spiky, akin to Kiba or Naruto's, and her features rather boyish. The only thing that betrayed that she was female at all was the slight suggestion of breasts beneath her dark hoodie, although she was rather flat chested overall. He somehow knew instinctively that this girl was Sora Miwa. Then beside it he saw a smaller framed photograph of Erisu and himself shortly after he'd taken her on as his student. He had the same photo alongside his picture of Team Seven and Team Minato but he hadn't given it much thought before. It was the standard master/pupil photo but he noticed that even then they'd stood a little closer than necessary, even then she was looking up at him rather at the camera and he realized he'd been looking at her as well. He noticed how their clothing had matched, how they were like silver and gold, kind and cold and had the sudden desire to smash the picture. He resisted of course, he wasn't one he acted out in bursts of anger, but he was silently seething none the less.

Then there was the rattle of a key in a lock and the front door swung open. Kakashi drew his kunai and flashed towards the intruder, pinning them against the wall with the blade to their throat.

" _Don't kill me!_ " Harumi screamed, "I didn't do it!"

He withdrew immediately, scratching his head in embarrassment. "Sorry," he muttered, "I thought you were...we'll never mind."

"Oh it's you Hatake-senpai." Harumi bowed, her round face pale with relief. "You scared me half to death."

"Yeah, my bad." He slipped his knife back into its holster. "Wait, why did you say 'I didn't do it'?"

Harumi flushed scarlet and skirted around him to put away her shoes. "I dunno, I thought it would keep me from getting stabbed I guess."

"..fair enough." He watched as Harumi refilled the cats' water fountain and food dishes. "You've been taking care of Erisu's house?"

"Well she's in the hospital..." Harumi peeked up at him timidly. "...she's always sleeping when I try to visit so I haven't been in to see her yet. Do you know if she's going to okay?"

"Patient confidentiality," Kakashi said and swept back over to Erisu's bedside table. He slid open the top drawer to find more books and a couple bottles of unmarked pills. "How long have you and Erisu known each other?" He asked, closing the drawer and moving to her dresser.

"Oh forever! I was one of the first people she met when she moved to the village," Harumi told him cheerfully as she set about dusting, "we went to the academy together, had sleepovers, all that girly stuff."

Kakashi looked over at her sharply. "Tell me everything."

She regarded him warily. "I know you're a famous ninja and everything but that's not how you ask about the girl you like," she said uncomfortably, "kinda creepy."

"What? No. I didn't mean it like that." He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at the Kappa. "I'm overseeing an investigation into Erisu's past and need all the information I can get."

Harumi dropped her feather duster. "What?! So you're snooping around her apartment? You'd better have a warrant!"

"...a warrant?"

"To search the premises!" Harumi folded her arms over her large chest and glowered at him with dangerous brown eyes. "Don't tell me you broke into a privately owned suite? You're breaking the law right now. I think I'm going to alert the shinobi military police force!"

"E-eto..calm down!" He waved his harness placatingly. "It's not like that. I'm trying to help Erisu."

"On who's orders?" Harumi demanded, "I want to see your ninja registration number and a letter from the Hokage."

"Are you a lawyer?"

"No. I'm a waitress. Now, your identification or leave." He was surprised to see a commoner being so authoritative towards a jōnin. "I am Erisurin's best friend and will defend her rights. Now please leave her premises or I'll have to alert the authorities."

Not in the mood for anymore drama, Kakashi slunk back out of the balcony door and dropped into the street below. The Kappa doll secretly hidden in his hip pouch.

"Hakuchō Aya is the illegitimate child of Yamanaka Jun'ichi and his lover, Hakuchō Someina." Tsunade traced a birth certificate as she spoke, "it appears that after Aya's birth, Someina-san left Konohagakure and Jun'ichi, and seemingly departed the country. I couldn't find any work records or tenancy agreements under her name. There's a single article here on geisha in training, a teenaged Aya is mentioned as one of the prospective geisha." She flipped through some more papers. "Several years later she is documented to have given birth to a son, Yusha, father unspecified. Four years later she had Erisu, father also unspecified. Over the next three years Aya was admitted to hospice from what the doctors suspected to be domestic abuse.

"On October thirty first, when Erisu was three years old, the local authorities were alerted to a domestic disturbance at Aya's residence. Aya was incarcerated for "aggravated assault and battery" while the man she attacked was sent to the hospital in a genjutsu coma. No charges were pressed." She frowned at the police report and shuffled the papers again.

"The Hakuchō jutsu 'Mental Nightmare' puts the victim in a genjutsu coma," Kakashi put in, "I've seen Erisu perform it before."

"I likely hypothesis," Tsunade nodded before continuing, "Aya moved around a lot over the next two years working spuratically as an," Tsunade hesitated, "'exotic dancer'... Then she and her children moved to Konohagakure two months before the Kyūbi Attack, taking up residence in the Yamanaka District.

"The following year Yusha was enrolled in the academy." She consulted his academy records. "He got good grades and became Genin at twelve." Shizune pointed out the paper Tsunade was searching for and the Hokage read: "Aya opened a tea house called 'Josei no Ocha' and..." She sheafed through more documents. "She married a local man, 'Akaiuma Rokurou', the groundskeeper at Yamanaka Jun'ichi's property. Jun'ichi-sama, Inoichi-san, and Inoichi's daughter Ino are all on the wedding guest list.

"Erisu was enrolled in the academy at the age of seven. She got amazing marks and during her time at the academy, when Erisu was eight, Aya gave birth to another son named Rūka.

"As we already know, the day before her graduation ceremony at the age of nine, Erisu was pulled out of the academy and sent from the country alone, with no explanation." Her hazel eyes looked up meaningfully. "A week later Aya's husband was arrested by the military police."

"Why was her husband arrested?" Kakashi asked the Hokage suspiciously.

"I don't know," Tsunade answered frustratedly, "I did some digging and the file was most likely lost in the chaos that followed the Uchiha Downfall."

"But I don't understand." Kakashi paced across the room and stared out at the cloudless sky. A day had passed since Erisu's confession of who'd cursed her. "Aya-san wasn't even a ninja, how could she enact such a curse?"

"There's more," Tsunade told him wearily, "apparently Erisu inexplicably returned three years later, days after the massacre of the Uchiha Clan and her stepfather is recorded to have moved back into the family home around the same time."

"Yes," Kakashi turned to face her, saying, "Erisu-san told me that she left Konoha for a while. Her mother wouldn't let her re-enroll in the academy. But she never even mentioned a stepfather." He thought for a moment. "She hasn't spoken of her brothers either, for that matter."

"And sister," Tsunade added, turning a page, "Aya-san had another child with her husband while Erisu was away, Emi-chan. I'm assuming he was either released from police custody or on probation?"

He suddenly remembered Erisu calling Emi's name after waking up from fainting...

"Are any of her family members still I the village?"

"The family home burned down, 'arson suspected', and they left the Land of Fire," Tsunade read, "we couldn't find any other mention of Hakuchō Aya or her husband after that date."

"Wait," he ceased pacing, "did you say Yamanaka Jun'ichi? As in-?"

"Yes," she nodded, pulling up the shinobi profile, "Inoichi and Aya appear to be half siblings. Jun'ichi died during Erisu's three year absence."

"Perhaps Inoichi-san knows something," he hadn't put together Erisu's relation to the telepathic clan before now but it made sense. "Is he available for me to speak to?"

"Shizune?" Tsunade prompted, her assistant jumped at her name.

"I'll check!" She hurried from the room.

"How's Erisu-chan handling being under watch?" Kakashi asked quietly once Shizune had gone.

"She hasn't complained," Tsunade smiled slightly, "I've tasked her with emergency detail so she's been occupied. She's really talented in the operating room, hands perfectly steady and she doesn't bat an eye at even the most grisly injuries."

"She's not pushing herself too hard?" He worried about her health.

"She's doing fine," she assured him, "all things considered..."

He turned his gaze back out the window, in the direction of the hospital where the girl was slowly dying. He wasn't going to give up on her.

" _Aya_?" Yamanaka Inoichi's dark turquoise eyes widened in surprise, "yeah, I knew her; she's my sister. I haven't heard her name in... Five years?" They were standing on the wide outdoor patio of the Yamanaka Residence, surrounded by a vast flower garden. Cicadas droned loudly in the distance.

"What can you tell me about her?" Kakashi asked.

"She showed up out of the blue fifteen years ago in search of my father," he told his colleague, "Aya was a beautiful woman, brilliant too. She wasn't a shinobi but she would've excelled in the Interrogation Force. That woman had a silver tongue, could persuade anyone into anything. Her chakra was immense and her focus incomparable-except for maybe that of her daughter's."

"You knew Erisu-san?"

"For a short time," Inoichi confirmed, "her and Yusha-kun were wonderful children. Erisu-chan was four or five years older than my Ino and treated her like a baby sister. They couldn't've been more different though," he chuckled, "where Ino is confident, effeminate, and fashion forward, Erisu was more bookish, boyish, and insisted on dressing like a mini ninja in her brother's hand-me-downs. They were such great kids, both incredibly clever and polite. It was a shame..." He lowered his head, his ash blond fringe flicking around his chiseled face as he recalled upsetting memories.

Kakashi suspected the cause, "what can you tell me about Aya-san's husband?" This hit a nerve for Inoichi snapped his head up, eyes burning fiercely.

"I wanted to kill him," he said scathingly, "I was so afraid he'd gotten to Ino too. The man was a pervert, why my father let him tend the grounds is beyond me." Kakashi's blood ran cold.

"What happened?" He asked quietly.

Inoichi looked around as if he suspected someone was eavesdropping, then he gestured for Kakashi to follow him inside. They entered a wide entrance hall, beautifully arranged flower vases on elegant side tables flanked the door. They slipped off their sandals and Kakashi followed Inoichi into the sitting room where Kakashi sat down on a violet chaise lounge while Inoichi pulled a photo album from a bookshelf beside the hearth. He sat on a matching lounge, facing Kakashi across the pristine glass coffee table.

"His name was Akaiuma Rokurou," Inoichi said heavily as he spread a photo album on the table and flipped it open to a wedding picture of a bride and groom. Kakashi examined the bride and knew immediately that she was Aya. The woman had waist long ash blonde hair and the same dark teal eyes as Inoichi. She was as beautiful as Tsunade, but with a slightly hooked nose, less ample bosom and a sultry smile. Her elaborate wedding kimono added to the grace of her figure and her loose hair was dotted with white orchids.

Beside her, in a fine suit, was a massive man with shoulder length, reddish blond hair, a carefully twirled moustache, and piercing, ice blue eyes.

Inoichi stared at the photo of the man with loathing. "I wanted to throw this away when he was arrested but sentiment stopped me," sadness entered his dark eyes, "Aya and I were once so close..." He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts.

Kakashi noticed that the opposite page was of the ring bearer, flower girl, and Third Hokage. The blond haired children, on either side of Sarutobi, were undoubtably Yusha and Erisu. Yusha's hair was a darker, golden blond and tied in a long low ponytail, strangely similar to Itachi. Yusha's eyes were sage green and his friendly face was spattered with freckles. Kakashi gazed at the tiny little Erisu and suddenly recognized the familial resemblance between her and Ino.

She was as porcelain and dainty as he knew her to be now, wearing a beautiful flowered kimono patterned with swans and orchids. She was holding the wedding bouquet and smiling timidly, her enormous, pale blue eyes sparkling and innocent. The most noticeable difference, despite her age of course, was the length of Erisu's hair. It was just as unruly as ever, swirling well past her obi in a waterfall of silvery gold curls. He noticed the cowlick at the part of her hair and that one stubborn lock that curled beautifully against her jaw.

Inoichi noticed his eyes on the children and smiled sadly. "That's them, Yusha-kun and Erisu-chan. The Third oversaw the wedding..."

Kakashi turned his eyes away from the photos and politely asked Inoichi to continue.

"Rokurou was groundskeeper here when my father was alive," Inoichi told him solemnly, "he'd been tending the gardens since I was first promoted to chūnin. He was a strange and soft spoken man who lived in a cottage on the edge of the property and generally kept to himself." His voice dropped and became uncharacteristically bitter, "he had a bit of a reputation for his inappropriate liking for younger girls, but no one knew exactly how sick he was.

"I lost all respect for my sister when she became involved with that-that _creep_. Apparently he confessed to her that he had a past conviction for..." His voice dropped to a whisper, "... _pedophilia_. But Aya married him anyway." He scoffed disdainfully. "She said that her daughter would be the proof that he was better now, but of course he wasn't."

"He was arrested when Erisu-san was nine years old," Kakashi kept his emotions concealed and spoke calmly, "but his file seems to have been lost. Can you illuminate me?"

"Erisu-chan confided in a classmate about her stepfather's advances and her friend informed their parents who then alerted the military police." He recalled, "but before the police had time to intervene Aya shipped Erisu-chan off to the Land of Waves to live with a distant aunt or something. Rokurou was apprehended shortly after and an investigation was launched. I interrogated him." Inoichi clenched his jaw with fury. "It wasn't 'serious' enough for a full out mind transfer so solid evidence wasn't found. After a couple months he was released on probation and Aya ran back to him in an instant." Kakashi closed his eyes in disgust.

"How could anyone, especially a mother, stay with someone like that?" Inoichi demanded vehemently, "he'd hurt her little girl but she was more concerned about his treatment in prison!

"Erisu-chan came home three years later, apparently her aunt couldn't control her. She'd always been very... willful." Inoichi had carefully avoided the word 'stubborn'.

"After the Uchiha Downfall and the resulting mayhem in the police departments, Rokurou was acquitted due to a lack of evidence and moved back into their home," he sighed, "Erisu-chan was back but she was different. I only saw her once or twice after the whole ordeal and she was broken. Not only was she abused by that man, but she was betrayed by her mother. Aya wouldn't even let her return to the academy, homeschooled her instead. Erisu-chan spent all her time caring for her younger siblings, watching her friends become chūnin without her."

Kakashi folded his hands between his knees, eyes down, and breathed deeply to calm himself; fury was coursing through his blood. He wanted nothing less than the satisfaction of running those twisted people through with his chidori... But if Aya and Rokurou were to be found, he needed more information.

"You said Aya was very intelligent and adept at focusing her chakra despite not being a Kunoichi, did she ever perform any jutsu that you were aware of?"

Inoichi laughed wryly. "Never. She despised the shinobi way. She was paranoid to begin with but after the investigation she became obsessed with some god I'd never heard of and spoke about Uchiha conspiracies to anyone who'd listen. I think she was loosing her mind by the time they all left."

Disappointed, Kakashi moved on, "what can you tell me about the fire?"

"Aya probably set it herself," Inoichi said then shook his head, "or I don't know, the whole situation was rather shady. Their home was just down the street so I saw the blaze and hurried over to help. I'll never forget how Erisu just stood there laughing. She had seemed overjoyed that the house was burning down, but she'd never have started it herself. That girl doesn't have a mean bone in her body." Kakashi privately agreed. Inoichi continued, "They holed up in an inn for a while and then Erisu-chan had an outburst in town."

"What do you mean?"

"Her stepfather tried to grab her to take her home and she lost it..." Inoichi seemed to be struggling to verbalized it, "she started screaming for him not to touch her, disowned him, called him a pervert-it was terrible."

A memory bubbled up from the back of his mind as Kakashi remembered the scene Inoichi described. A teenaged girl, younger than Naruto, with waist long, ash blonde hair in pigtails struggling with a massive man in the market.

"Yes," he murmured, "I was there, I tried to calm her down but she ran off..."

The interrogator nodded solemnly, "that was the last I saw of them. They left that very night."

"Where?" He leaned forward desperately.

"No one knew," he replied, "Aya trusted no one at that point. The Uchiha Downfall messed her up pretty bad psychologically." Kakashi ran his hand through his hair and turned away, discouraged. Then he faced Inoichi again, eye hard with determination.

"It is imperative that I find Aya," he said firmly, "anything you know or might have heard could make all the difference."

Inoichi tilted his head curiously, "what's this about, anyways? No one's been interested in Aya and Rokurou for years..."

Kakashi hesitated then decided that Inoichi might be more keen to help if he understood what was at stake.

"Hakuchō Erisu came back to Konohagakure." Inoichi straightened in interest. "She passed the graduation exam and has been under my tutelage. My intention was to recommend her for the Anbu but..." He glanced over his shoulder despite being indoors and continued in a low voice, "Aya cursed her. She's branded with 'sacrifice' and is terminally ill, Tsunade-sama estimates she only has about nine months left to live, a year at most. The Hokage and I are trying to track down Aya to make her remove the curse but Erisu won't say a word to betray her mother."

Inoichi was still as he tried to process all of this. "Yusha-kun would know," he said at last, "he was a prodigal son, the favoured child and practically worshipped Aya. I heard he was back here for a short time training to be a sashimi chef, he never had the discipline to be a full fledge ninja, but I'm not sure where he is now..." He pondered this for a moment, "Ino was on relatively good terms with him while he lived here, although I personally never really saw him. I think he was avoiding me to be honest. I'll find out what she knows and contact the rest of the Clan to see if they have any idea about Yusha or Aya's whereabouts." The offer was like oxygen and Kakashi bowed his head gratefully.

Finally. A lead, he was getting somewhere at last.


	31. Chapter 29: Kiyomi vs Kakashi

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE**

 ** _Kiyomi vs Kakashi_**

~Erisu~

"Hush now," Erisu murmured to the shinobi soothingly, "be still, you'll be alright." Her hands hummed as she sealed the abrasions on the injured ninja's neck and face. She would soothe the superficial cuts and grazes first to calm him.

Sakura, her pink hair pulled into a tight knot as she snapped on rubber gloves, stood beside her. The two girls nodded at each other and Erisu quickly cast The Temple of Nirvana, feathers drifted around them and the patient was washed into a numb sleep. Erisu was careful to confine the illusion's area of effect to the operating room and Sakura immediately dispelled the jutsu from herself. Then Erisu conjured two clones to restrain the man and control his bleeding while she herself twisted her hands into another rapid combination.

"Chakra Transference Jutsu," she murmured and sent her chakra into the Hokage's student, expanding Sakura's stores.

Haruno, hands glowing, slipped her fingers into the gaping hole in their patient's abdomen. Erisu kept her mind fixed on the feelings of the man on the operating table to ensure she kept his pain away while Sakura extracted the shrapnel. It was tedious work and they treated him quickly and silently, Sakura carefully pulling chunks of metal and wire from the raw and burned flesh. Finally Sakura was finished, Erisu's clone dabbed the younger girl's forehead with a cloth. Then the four of them touched his body one last time to search his system for anymore foreign objects. Erisu dispersed her clones and she and Sakura mended the hole that remained.

"It goes so much faster with your clones doesn't it, Hakuchō-san?" Sakura said with a smile as she pinned the bandages in place.

"It does," Erisu agreed, "it's such a useful jutsu." They moved to the sink to wash up as a knock sounded at the door.

Kakashi appeared in the room, his sleepy eye drifting over the unconscious shinobi and the bowl of shrapnel. "All finished?" He asked.

"Yes, sensei," Sakura answered, "do you need me for anything? Does Naruto need any help?"

"He's fine," Kakashi said with a wave of his hand, "I'm actually looking for Risu."

Erisu was surprised he'd used her nickname in front of his teammate but said nothing about it.

"Yes, O-sama. What can I do to assist you?"

Kakashi ignored her attempt at formality. "I thought you might like to get some fresh air," he said, "let's get out of here for a bit."

"R-really?" She was ecstatic, so sick of the hospital. She turned back to Sakura. "You don't still need me do you?"

"No, I'll be alright." Her mint green eyes were round as she looked from Kakashi to Erisu and back again. "I'll see you later."

Erisu murmured her goodbyes and followed the jōnin from the trauma ward.

"This is a pleasant surprise," Erisu said cheerfully as they stepped into the dazzling light of the summer afternoon. She'd been worried he'd try and wheedle more information from her and a break from the constant reminder of her impending death was a relief.

Kakashi merely grunted in response and lead Erisu towards the Third Training Ground. The forest trail was splattered with sunlight and shadows. Butterflies flitted about and birdsong filled the heavy air. He lead the way across the clearing to the ancient willow that they'd spent much of their time beneath. He scanned the grass for a moment before nodding approvingly. Then he unbuckled a scroll pocket of his vest and whipped out a summon. Biting his thumb through his mask, he smeared the parchment in blood and there was a burst of smoke.

Erisu blinked curiously as the smoke cleared. No ninken or weapons had appeared but rather a plush blanket and bento boxes. He'd summoned a picnic.

" _Ehhh?_ " Erisu looked up at him in befuddlement. "What's this?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled into a smile and he dropped onto the blanket with a huff. He patted the fuzzy fabric beside him and Erisu sat down. She stared at him in complete confusion as he poured her some iced lemonade.

"You prepared this meal...made a contract with it, and summoned it?" She took the drink he offered her. "I can appreciate the forethought and grand gesture of dramatic display but..." Erisu cocked her head at him. "...why?" She tried to sense him, understand his intentions but he was infuriatingly good at concealing his emotions from her.

"I thought you deserved something nice," he answered with a shrug, "we haven't had much time for relaxation since we've met and due to recent developments...well, let's just say I think you should be treated properly at least once."

Then he slipped his hand into his hip pouch and tossed something at her. Erisu caught it instinctively. It was the kappa plushy; she hugged it tight. Erisu wasn't accustomed to this. People didn't usually do nice things unless they expected something in return. Was he just trying to soften her up so that he could interrogate her again?

"How're you holding up?" He asked, "in regards to the Fire Temple?"

"I'll be alright," she mumbled, dropping her eyes to the Kappa. "I just hope that the shinobi responsible are stopped. With such a large number of teams searching they're likely to be intercepted right?"

"Possibly..." His eye clouded. "But these two..." He didn't need to finish, she knew what he was thinking. The two ninja had massacred an entire temple full of monks. Erisu couldn't understand how such a thing was even possible.

"...but let's not dwell on that," Kakashi said, "let's just enjoy the weather and some bento."

"Itadakimasu," Erisu said, noticing happily that there was no meat or onions in her food, and started on her green salad.

They were quickly sucked into conversation, forgetting their surroundings and the current troubles. Kakashi's eyes were fixed on Erisu as she spoke quietly yet animatedly about her favourite horror novel series. She was just about to elude to the chilling subplot of a double suicide romance when a sudden tingle on the back of her neck alerted her to a presence. Kakashi's dark eye broke away from hers at the same moment and he scanned the tree line, posture remaining relaxed as he inhaled deeply through his nose.

Erisu traced it first and signalled him with a nearly undetectable glance to her left. He blinked in acknowledgement, fingers brushing his kunai holster. Two people drew near but meant no harm, she swept back her hair and discreetly shook her head to tell him this as well. Seconds later two figures appeared from the tangle of trees.

"Oh damn." Kiyomi halted and looked over at Sota. "Looks like we're invading on a romantic picnic."

"Tragic and tactless." Sota was solemn. "A hundred apologies for the disturbance."

"Afternoon..." Erisu eyed them suspiciously. Kakashi said nothing.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food would you?" Kiyomi dropped onto the blanket between tutor and pupil, abandoning pretence. "Im famished." She spotted Erisu's bento box and grabbed an inarizushi with her fingers. "Delicious, thanks," she mumbled around a mouthful.

"Oh please, help yourself," Erisu said dryly.

Sota dropped gracefully into the grass to kneel, seiza style, with an expression of peaceful contentment. Erisu consciously redistributed her weight and tightened her knees together. Kakashi didn't outwardly acknowledge the interruption, or even their arrival for that matter.

"So what's up?" Kiyomi began causally, "have you resumed your training? Cleared of the whole 'Akatsuki Spy' thing I gather?"

Kakashi ignored her, pulling out his book. Kiyomi appraised him with her deep red eyes. She wasn't someone who'd tolerate a cold shoulder.

"Is chatting in a picturesque meadow a common part of aikido training?" Kiyomi asked as she drained Erisu's miso, "teaching her to appreciate nature and become one with her surroundings or something?"

Kakashi raised his brow and looked at her with about twenty percent of his attention. "What an interesting question," he murmured, "are you one with your surroundings?"

She narrowed her dark, clever eyes, sizing him up and Erisu knew what Kiyomi was thinking.

"So this is the great Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan, eh Erisu?" She set down the miso bowl and fixed him with her smouldering stare. "Of course Yuma's known you for ages, talks about you often too."

Kakashi's eye narrowed but he didn't rise to the bait.

"You've got quite the assortment of titles," Kiyomi went on, "don't you?"

"So it would seem."

"The mighty hero of the Third World War. Anything you want to say about that?"

He met her fierce stare evenly, cool and collected. "Not particularly, do you?"

"I do actually." She glanced over at Erisu who shook her head slightly, pleadingly, and turned back to Kakashi. "All that fame must have some rewards. I bet the ladies are all swooning over you." Erisu closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Kiyomi was as nosy as she was fearless.

"Do they?" He scratched his jaw and turned back to his book. "I hadn't noticed."

"Uh huh." Kiyomi raised her brows, unconvinced.

"Why do you ask?" He rifled idly through the pages in search of where he'd left off.

"You're telling me you don't have a significant other?" She prompted, "a girlfriend? A lover?"

"Hm," his stroked his chin thoughtfully. "A lover?" His graphite eye slid to Erisu's, she stiffened, then back to Kiyomi's. "I don't actually recall saying that. Are you a member of the Anbu, Kiyomi-san?"

"What? No." She glowered at him guardedly.

"Well I thought you might be interviewing me on an intelligence mission. Have I been put in a bingo book without my knowledge?"

Kiyomi had met her match and her eyes seemed to focus on him with a predacious zeal. She shuffled like a panther getting ready to pounce. Sota sucked his teeth trepidatiously.

"What's your zodiac sign?" She asked suddenly in a sociable tone that didn't match the gleam in her eyes.

"My zodiac..?" He looked her full in the face. "Now that's a rather leading question, isn't it? A good question too. Zodiacs apparently tell a lot about people, their traits, luck, goals, romantic compatibilities. But I think a better question would be 'how accurate are horoscopes really'? And 'how much weight should we put in them'?"

"Planning on becoming Hokage?" Kiyomi queried.

"Hm? What makes you ask that?"

"Your rebuffing and topic diverting tactics are perfect for political speeches."

Kakashi chuckled. "Touché."

"What I really want to know is if you're seeing anybody," Kiyomi pressed, "romantically."

"Are you seeing anybody?" He asked innocently, eye sparkling playfully.

"Not at the moment," she answered shortly, "there's nothing wrong with being single."

"Of course there isn't." He dropped his gaze to his novel and started to read.

"What about you, Erisu-chan?" Kiyomi inquired of the other girl, louder than necessary, "do you have a beau?" Kakashi's eye remained on the words but she could feel his interest peek.

"That's a rather personal question, don't you think?" Erisu hinted, but Kiyomi's blazing stare was unyielding.

"Hey, could I have your kappa roll if you're not gonna eat it?" Sota interjected as a rescue attempt.

" _Silence_ ," Kiyomi commanded, "this is a matter of grave importance, can't you see?"

Sota made an apologetic face at Erisu who thanked him for his efforts with her eyes.

"I'm a Capricorn," Erisu told Kiyomi, "January sixteenth if you'd like to know."

"Earth sign, power sign, Cardinal sign," Kiyomi rattled off, momentarily distracted. Kakashi's eye creased in amusement. "Wait-" she glared at Erisu, "that wasn't the question!"

"You already know my relationship status, Kiyomi-san," Erisu said, "we've discussed it before, remember?"

"It seems to have slipped my mind. Enlighten me."

Erisu wondered helplessly how Kakashi managed to squirm his way out of answering anything about himself.

"You're a Capricorn?" Kakashi piped up, surprising everybody. "Gai's a Capricorn as well."

"Oh?" Kiyomi and Sota faded into the backdrop. "I've always felt awkward being a Capricorn since they're considered an ambitious sign. Gai-sensei is far more driven than I am. I have a terrible tendency to procrastinate, you see."

"I think you're ambitious but just in a different sense than Gai," Kakashi said, "he's more of a down to earth, manipulator of the material world while you're more of an intellectual. Your unquenchable desire to learn as much as you can and apply yourself to the very best of your abilities is ambitious indeed."

"Thank you." She smiled graciously, neither seemed aware that they were a fascinating spectacle for the others. "If you don't mind my asking O-sama, when is your birthday?"

"September fifteenth," he answered promptly.

"Well, I'll have to throw you a party!" She proclaimed, "I'll make you your favourite food if you'd like."

"Virgo and Capricorn are incredibly compatible you know," Kiyomi chipped in with a sly smile, "almost magnetically so..."

"Is that right?" Kakashi blinked his drowsy looking eye at her. "Who would've ever thought Erisu and I'd get along?"

"You sir, are playing a dangerous game trying to outwit me..." Her voice sounded angry but her eyes were sparkling happily.

Erisu doubted Kiyomi had ever encountered someone she couldn't dominate or insult. Kakashi deflected her effortlessly and it was clearly driving her mad with competitive passion. But Erisu couldn't keep her mind on that, she was too preoccupied by the fact that he'd answered her so swiftly and openly when he shut out everyone else.

"Psst!" Sota pointed at her bento box. "Kappa roll? Pretty please?" Erisu silently passed him the box, eyes passing from Kakashi to Kiyomi and back again as they considered each other.

"Dangerous you say?" He set down his book. "Well I'm glad to know you understand the power of conversation."

"Not just conversation," Kiyomi said, fixing that terribly sweet smile on her face, "I'm the queen of banter, empress of insults."

"If I agree with you we'll both be wrong."

Sota choked on his sushi. Kiyomi opened her mouth and closed it again. Erisu couldn't believe it; Kiyomi was actually speechless.

"Now, your majesty..." Kakashi bowed his head in mock respect and picked his book back up. "If you wouldn't mind, Risu and I are having a bit of a personal outing..."

"Oh but I do mind." Kiyomi's eyes flashed. "Erisu is like my little sister and I won't have some high and mighty Mr. Hero toying with her."

Kakashi looked up from his book. "Hm?"

"What? Was that too complicated for you to understand?" She sneered.

"Kiyomi-san was it?" Kakashi turned his attention back to the novel. "I'm afraid I'm kind of busy right now, can I ignore you another time?"

"Eto..." Sota put down the bento box and tried to pull Kiyomi to her feet. "We should go check on Yuma-Taichou."

"Sit," Kiyomi hissed at him and Sota obeyed. She turned her eyes back to Kakashi, a vortex of insults forming in her mind. She wasn't just being nosy now, she wanted to cut him to the core. She really was quite vindictive when she wanted to be.

"How's your mother, Sota-san?" Erisu cut across them, trying to divert the topic. "Doing well, I hope?"

"Erisu, be quiet!" Kiyomi snapped. She wanted to battle Kakashi and had no patience for interruptions.

"Oi," Kakashi said, "mind your tone with her."

" _Ahhhhhhh_..." Kiyomi had found a pressure point at last.

"Has a thought just crossed your mind?" Kakashi asked her, "it must've been a long and lonely journey."

"Don't piss me off today," Kiyomi snarled, "I'm running out of places to hide the bodies."

"Mission accomplished: I'm terrified," he said in boredom, "now go away."

"I would but I can't get past your oversized ego."

"Now Kiyomi-san," he said, waving his hand lazily, "I already have plenty of ninken, I don't need another."

It took her a second to catch his meaning. "Oh, cause I'm a bitch?" She let out a horrible fake laugh. "I'm much worse than a bitch!"

"Indisputably." He turned a page of the erotic book. "Have a nice day, Kiyomi-san."

She struggled silently for a comeback to that.

"Can't think of anything?" Kakashi asked without looking up. "That must be a familiar sensation."

"Sorry, I just can't think of an insult stupid enough for you."

He sighed. "You're milking this conversation. It's very dull." He turned to Erisu saying, "maybe we should get going? We could head back to my place-"

"You will not!" Kiyomi roared. "Taking sweet little Erisu-chan to your place, alone? Ha! Not happening!"

"Did you say something?" Kakashi glanced at Kiyomi groggily.

"Erisu is just a little girl, innocent to the ways of men!" Kiyomi fumed. "I won't have you corrupting her! I know men like you, trying to take advantage of naïve students like her and gave your way with them!"

" _Hey_ -" Erisu started to object.

"Watch your accusations, Kiomi." His voice was steel. "I won't tolerate insinuations such as those." Then he signed the dismissal of his summon and the picnic vanished. Chopsticks and rice turning to smoke on the way to Sota's mouth. Kakashi stood, towering over Kiyomi, his eye like dark fire. " _I'd never harm_ _Erisu_." He extended his hand to his student, still glaring at the other jōnin. "Risu-chan, let's go."

Erisu grabbed her Kappa and took his hand, it was shaking slightly with barely suppressed fury. She didn't know why he was so angry, people had made implications about their relationship before and he'd merely been annoyed. He'd never been one to be quick to anger. Kakashi pulled her up and started leading her away from her friends.

"Bye Sota-san, Kiyomi-san!" She called over her shoulder. They both looked confused, Sota's mouth still open slightly and his hands posed as if he was holding invisible chopsticks. Kakashi lead her across the training ground at a brisk pace and they were quickly swallowed by the forest.

He held onto her hand all the way back to the village, unspeaking and not looking at her.

At last they'd reached the hospital again and Erisu's stomach sank. She wanted to be allowed to go home already, but Tsunade said she was too worried Erisu might faint again. He continued dragging her towards the door when she stopped abruptly and pulled her hand from his grasp. He turned an inquisitive grey eye to her, brow creased.

"Alright, explain," she said, "why are you so angry?"

Kakashi dropped his eye and ran his hand through his hair. He wasn't going to answer.

"You can't ignore me, Kakashi-sensei," she said quietly, "I need an explanation. The random walk, the picnic, your sudden anger... What's going on with you? You're being very...odd."

"You're right," he said, still not meeting her eye, "I'm sorry for my unusual behaviour. It won't happen again."

"No-I didn't mean..." Erisu sighed. "The walk was a pleasant surprise and the picnic was lovely, romantic even, I just want to understand."

"Goodnight, Risu-chan," he said and walked past her, tousling her hair, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She spun around to face him as he passed through the gates. "Kakashi, wait!" He paused, and glanced over his shoulder. Erisu hugged the Kappa, smelling pocky in its hair. "Thank you, for everything."

He nodded once then strode away into the evening haze.


	32. Chapter 30: The Funeral

**CHAPTER THIRTY**

 ** _The Funeral_**

~ (Ten Years Ago) ~

The night was sticky and silent, the heavy scents of summer flowers filling the muggy air. The village was sleeping, deserted and empty, except for a stray cat slinking through the shadows and a lone owl surveying the empty streets like a sentry. On the long covered deck of a dark house sat a small child. She was frail and fair, her silvery blonde hair swirling well past her hips and pooling on the steps beside her. Her pale eyes were hollow with the empty look of a child who'd cried her eyes dry. She watched a streetlamp flickering in the street beyond the front garden. Moths fluttered around the faltering light as the girl gazed unseeingly into the blaze. Her tiny chin was rested on a dainty white hand, her narrow wrists wrapped in dark finger shaped bruises.

The paper door slid open and a boy emerged, his long golden hair hanging in a plait that ended past the obi of his lounging kimono.

"Imōto?" He whispered, "what are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't sleep," his sister answered without looking at him, "I had a nightmare."

The boy lowered himself onto the steps beside her, his green eyes glowing in the lamplight. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Her voice was void of emotion as she continued staring blindly at the streetlight.

"You have classes in the morning," the boy said, "you should go to bed."

"I don't need sleep," she said monotonously, "I won't be caught unaware again."

"What are you talking about?" The boy's expressive brows drew together.

"He was in my room again," she whispered, "mum said I was lying."

The boy looked over at the flickering lamp as well, all concern gone from his face. "Well, _were_ you?"

She turned her eerie silver, blue eyes in her brother at last. "I wouldn't lie about something like that, Oniisan." She said it miserably, beseechingly, without a trace of anger.

"You know mother isn't going to get back with father if you break her and Rukorou-san up." Her brother wasn't meeting her eyes. "You're being foolish trying to ruin the best thing that's ever happened to us."

"I know she wouldn't go back to daddy," her voice rose slightly, and her eyes shine with tears, "but I'm scared of him-"

Her brother caught her wrist, his fingers fitting into the bruises. He squeeze until she whimpered.

"Stop," she pleaded, "Oniisan, you're hurting me!"

"Do you remember what life was like before Rukorou-san married mother?" He gripped her hard, his nails dinging into her skin. "We had nothing! Mother was forced to whore herself for us, we were poor, hungry. Is that what you want?" Her arm welted beneath his fingers. "Do you?"

"Oniisan, _please_ ," she sobbed, trying to pull out of his grasp.

"What about Rūka? Do you want him to be fatherless like we were?"

"Better to be fatherless than to be near him," Erisu said through her welling tears.

"You wouldn't know!" He snapped, "you were just a baby, you didn't know what it was like to lose a father. I'm not going to lose another father!"

"He doesn't even care about you though," she said desperately, "he works you like a slave, gets your name wrong-"

"Shut up!" He clouted her over the head. "Stop trying to ruin my life! Stealing all of Rokurou's attention, out shining me at the academy, and now you want to tear our family apart." He yanked her towards him, dislocating her shoulder. She yelped as the bone popped from the joint. " _Shut up,_ " he hissed again, "you're going to wake everyone up."

Tears streamed over Erisu's round cheeks, and she dropped her burning eyes in shame.

"Apologize." Her brother ordered, "apologize for your rudeness. Now."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"What?"

"I'm sorry..!" She stifled a sob.

"I can't hear you!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She forced out through her shuddering breaths. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry!" He released her, satisfied.

"You'd better be," his voice was venomous, "I don't want to hear another word against Rokurou. He's the best thing mother's ever had and I won't have you slandering his good name."

"Sorry, Oniisan," she said, the pain in her arm shocking her into numbness.

"I expect you to make an offering to Izanagi-sama in the morning to pay penance for your lies," her brother went on, "and if you keep making up stuff about Rokurou I'll tell mother to pull you out of the Academy."

"No..!" Erisu exclaimed in a strangled voice, "Oniisan, anything but that..!"

"Remember that she only let you enrol because I vouched for you," his temper was still running high, "don't make me regret it. I won't have you breaking our family apart, Erisu. Family is everything."

Then the door slid open a massive hulking man appeared, casting his long shadow over the children. His icy blue eyes gleamed with anger as he looked from each child.

"What are you two doing out here?" He asked in a deep gravely voice, "Yusho don't you have a mission in the morning?" He demanded of the thirteen year old boy in a pitiless tone, "if you're not resting I expect you to be meditating or training."

"Yes sir," Yusha jumped to his feet, desperate to please their stepfather.

"We'll get to it boy, and don't forget to dig the post holes for the new fence before you set out tomorrow," Rokurou said coldly, "I want to have Jun'ichi-sama's fence finished by tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes sir," Yusha said again and hurried inside without a glance at his sister. When the door closed the man turned to the tiny girl and his voice changed drastically.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed~?" He asked sweetly, "do you want me to tuck you in~?"

"No thank you, sir," she said tightly through the agony in her shoulder.

"You could use a bath before bed~." He said in that sickening voice, leaning over her to stroke her silky hair. "Do you need some help~?"

"No sir," she whispered in terror.

"Come here, sweetie, I'll carry you." He extended his massive calloused hands towards her and she recoiled.

"No, sir," her voice came out high and trembling with fear, "please no, sir." He placed a hand on her bony shoulder and massaged it with his thick, sooty fingers. The pain snapped her to her senses and Erisu leapt away with the agility of a full grown shinobi. "Don't touch me," she said fiercely.

"What are you doing, Erisu-chan?" His voice hardened, "trying to play hard to get?" He skulked towards her, towering above like a bear on his hind legs.

" _Get away!_ " She raised her good arm defensively. "I'll fight you!"

He laughed, a deep guttural laugh that chilled her to the bone. "Really? A tiny thing like you?"

"I'll be a genin soon!" She said defiantly, fear making her reckless.

"Even the menial skills the Academy could teach you wouldn't make you a match for me," he sneered.

"Then I'll run!"

"You know I'll catch you," he approached, hand extended, face in shadow. The streetlamp flickered out and they were plunged into darkness.

" _Don't touch me!_ " She shrieked and she ran, faster than she'd ever run before. Forcing her chakra into her feet to spur her onward at an inhuman speed. Without daring to check if he was pursuing her, Erisu pelted off into the silent village where no one was awake to hear her scream.

~ (Present Day) ~

~Kakashi~

Naruto was advancing quickly, using his Kage Bunshin to manipulate the rasengan in his palm. Kakashi was impressed by his use of the clones. Tenzō was sitting between his wooden totems a few yards away suppressing the Kyūbi's chakra while Kakashi's attention drifted. Trying to digest everything he'd learned about Erisu's past over the last couple days. This Rokurou man was on his hit list for sure as was Aya. He hoped Inoichi would track down Yudga soon...

" _Yatta!_ " Naruto whooped, "I think I'm getting the hang of it!" The ball of chakra was changing shape in his hand.

Kakashi returned his attention to the present. Only Naruto had the chakra and jutsu to pull off such a technique. Kakashi couldn't have done it and neither could Minato.

"No less from the leaf's most surprising ninja, eh Naruto?" Kakashi mused, "I've gotta say..." The three boys looked up curiously. "...I really like you now!"

Chakra spiralled around in like a tornado as all three Narutos collapsed in alarm. Kakashi jumped in surprise.

"Don't say weird shit like that you friggen idiot!" Naruto bellowed, "I finally got the jutsu and your creepy ass threw me off!"

"Uhhh, I didn't mean it like that." Kakashi started forward, hands raised appeasingly. "I'm trying to s-"

" _Back off!_ " Naruto scrabbled backwards, clones dispersing. Then a shinobi dropped between Tenzō's totems. Kakashi and Naruto looked over curiously.

"Kakashi-senpai!" Tenzō was urgent as he jumped up and hurried towards them saying, "we need to stop training and return to the village immediately!"

"What happened?" Kakashi asked with growing dread.

Tenzō dropped his possum eyes, face pale with grief. "Sarutobi Asuma..." He began in a weak voice. "...has passed away."

The polished bevel market gleamed in the summer sun, white as granite. The sky was a scintillating blu, offensively beautiful. Cheerful clouds like cotton balls lazed across the sky in their unending journey as the planet spun ever on and on. Birds sang in the rippling treetops with oblivious cheer.

The shinobi stood in silence, a black sea of mourning as Kurenia made her way to the grave. The mass of black kimonos and waxy faces were like one body rigid with shocked grief. Konohamaru was sobbing quietly against Naruto. Silent tears ran over the swirls on Choji's cheeks and poured unchecked from Ino's turquoise eyes. All around was the soft sound of sniffling and the wet sound as people wiped their puffy eyes.

Kakashi was stiff with shock and grief. Hed attended many funerals in his life, far too many but this was somehow colder. It left as colourless and chill as a winter's night in spite of the blue sky and glowing sun. The circumstances of this death was different. It was a wake up call to the Akatsuki and what they were capable of.

Kakashi had known Asuma since the academy. He was a guardian ninja, son of the Third, and a fierce friend. But the indescribable pain on Kurenai's face was worse than anything Kakashi might've been feeling as he watched her kneel in the grass. Her head bowed, black hair and kimono startling on her alabaster skin. Her shoulders shaking in soundless sobs, she set a bouquet of white lilies next to his name. Kakashi realized then why Erisu had kept her illness from him, why she'd tried to keep him ignorant of her nearing death, and why she refused to love him. She was trying to protect him from the very agony that was racking Kurenai's body before his eye.

Erisu thought she was keeping him safe from this horror, but Kakashi realized how very wrong she was. Losing her to death was only a fraction of the pain he'd feel if she died without him ever having her at all. He wasn't going to let her die, wasn't going to attend her funeral. He would save her life and avenge her mistreatment. He vowed this silently as he stared at the white flower petals fluttering in the faint summer breeze.

Shikamaru was absent and Kakashi understood why. He'd barely managed to attend Minato's funeral himself, losing one's sensei was probably equal to losing one's parent or lover.

Eventually the mourners began to disperse, their eyes hollow and their expressions bleak. He saw Gai, Shizune, Ebisu, and Genma standing near the cemetery gate. His classmates didn't speak, as they watched Kurenai glide past them. Her poppy red eyes were glazed with shock and misery. Kakashi dropped his gaze to the tombstone and closed his eyes to restrain the tears budding there.

Another had fallen, as they all do in the end.

He opened his eye as a familiar sugary scent reached him. Erisu crouched beside the grave and deposited a small object next to the flowers.

She straightened and pressed her hands together in prayer. Kakashi looked at the little trinket glinting in the glow of the setting sun. It was a glittering fire opal, 火 emblazoned on it in red. A delicate chain was fastened to it, snaking across the stone in a glimmer of metal links.

Erisu lowered her hands, her kimono was the deepest, inky black, her hair held back from her face with obsidian clips. Her head was bowed in solemn contemplation.

"Chiriku-sama's body wasn't recovered," she said quietly, to no one in particular, "the Akatsuki killed him for the bounty as they did with Sarutobi Asuma. I didn't know Asuma-sensei but Chiriku-sama spoke highly of him. He deserves the necklace, not me."

"Risu," Kakashi began but she didn't seem to hear him.

"I'm at your disposal, O-sama," she said in a robotic voice, "whatever you require in the efforts to bring those men to justice..."

"Enough," he silenced her.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," he told her, "you have nothing to be sorry for."

"On the contrary I have everything to be sorry for." Then she turned and left his side. Kakashi stared down at the fire opal and steadied himself. He wasn't going to let her die.


	33. Chapter 31: The Oncoming Storm

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

 ** _The Oncoming Storm_**

~Erisu~

"Erisu, wait." The girl hesitated then turned to face the senior shinobi who was still standing at Asuma's graveside.

"Yes, O-sama?" She kept her voice even despite her trepidation.

He closed his eye and sighed in exasperation. "Please, stop with the 'O-sama' nonsense, Risu," he said wearily, "we're so much more than those formalities allow." He opened his dark grey eye and fixed her with his gaze. "I want you to call me by my given name."

"As you wish, sir-" His eye narrowed. "-Kakashi," she amended. "What do you need?"

"I need you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean..." He ran his hand through his hair nervously, there was something vulnerable and boyish in his stance. "...I need to talk to you."

"Alright," she remained on her guard. He wasn't being himself. Did he know something?

"...about your family," his voice was soft, nearly undetectable.

So that was it. They were back to the cause of her curse. She smoothed her kimono and forced herself to meet his eyes calmly. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you have any siblings?" He asked but Erisu could tell he already knew the answer. He was testing her honesty.

"Two brothers and a sister," she answered emotionlessly, "Yusha, Rūka, and Emi."

He nodded, satisfied. "Are you in contact with any of them?"

"No."

"Not even your elder brother?"

What was he after? She extended her senses and probed him but he was as walled away as ever, an impregnable fortress. "I haven't spoken to Yusha in nearly five years."

"I see..." Kakashi's eye drifted over the lilies bobbing on the grave distractedly. "...and the younger two?"

"Same amount of silence," she said, "why do you want to know?"

"I discovered something and-" Kakashi glanced over at her and his eye swirled with emotion. "-I need to hear what you have to say about it."

She braced herself. She wasn't going to be weak anymore, wasn't going to succumb to her feelings but she still didn't want to talk about her mother, to bring all that pain back to the surface ... and she'd say nothing of that beast. But this was Kakadhi and she'd promised herself to be open with him from now on.

"Alright, what've you heard?"

"I heard..." He looked to disgusted to even speak it, as if the words were bile in his mouth. Then he turned back to the bevel marker, face hidden from her. "...never mind. We can discuss it another time."

A heavy silence, thicker than the muggy air, hung between them and finally Kakashi's walls collapsed. She could feel him, understand him, and the pain there nearly brought her to her knees.

"You're afraid..." She whispered, moving to his side. He was so strong, so calm, it was hard to believe he'd ever been afraid. "What is it you fear?"

"So much," he answered quietly, "I'm afraid for Team Seven, that they'll never be reunited. I'm worried about my students and their fates, about the next generation after them and what kind of world they'll live in..." His shoulders were sagged, head bowed. She'd never seen him like this before, he was unravelling before her eyes. "Death has always been a part of the shinobi way but this was different. Can you feel it?" He faced her again and brushed her fingers with his. "It's like static in the air before a thunderstorm."

"What is?" She asked in a whisper.

"War."

Erisu couldn't say, she'd never experienced warfare before, the Third World War had been before her time but of course Kakashi had been in the thick of it.

"Konohagakure will persevere," she assured him gently, "the shinobi of the lead have faced evil before."

"It's not just that..." He untied his headband and gazed at the forehead protector grimly. "...there are always fatalities in war, fallen war heroes and civilian casualties alike. But there's something worse than that."

Erisu couldn't imagine what could possibly be worse than the horrors of warfare.

Kakashi slipped his headband into the pocket of his hakama trousers. "There's a death coming that's preventable."

 _Me_ , she realized in sudden disbelief. Did he really consider her fate that significant?

"But Kakashi..." She eyed him warily. "I'm just one person."

"Risu-chan..." His eye was like molten mercury as he caught her face in his hands. "Don't you understand? You're not just a student to me. In a few fleeting months I could be burying you. Kurenei-San just lost Asuma, and her grief was indescribable. Don't ask me to endure that too."

He guided her close to him and her hands instinctively rested against his chest. Erisu's fingers dug into the smooth black fabric of his funeral clothes as she bit her lip to force silence. She could feel his heartbeat through his kimono, his strong muscles tensed and battle ready.

"If you'd just tell me where she is I'll-"

"You'll what? Persuade her?" Erisu looked back up at that piercing silver eye. "Threaten her? Torture her? Turn her over to Morino Ibiki..? Don't you see? It's bigger than just me, there is more at stake than my own life... _She's my mother._ "

"I can appreciate your loyalty Erisu but wake up!" he said sharply, "no mother would do what she did to you. There's nothing you could've done to deserve such a death."

"Oh?" She smiled ruefully. "How can you be so sure? You hardly know me."

"Well, I think I'm a better judge of character than you give me credit for." He hooked his index finger under her chin and tilted her head back. "In fact, I think I know you better than you know yourself." He pulled down his mask with his other hand and his lips curved into a soft, melancholy smile.

"You think so..?" She was hypnotized by his gaze.

"Yes," he said with certainty, "I know you're a night owl and hate mornings. I know you love your cats more than yourself and that you'd fight through a fire to save them without a second thought.

"I know you apologize so much because you think you harm everything and everyone you encounter, but I also know that in reality you always do your hardest to alleviate suffering." He stroked her bottom lip with his thumb tantalizingly.

"I know you donate to the animal shelter but keep it a secret because you're worried people would think you're boasting. You love candy and add sugar to your green tea but have a mild phobia of onions and sloths."

"How can you know about the sloths?"

He grinned. "I know you sleep on your stomach and need the window open at night. I've felt the subtle dimples in your tailbone..." His knuckles glided down her spine to the small of her back. "And you have a little beauty spot behind your right ear..." He swept back her hair and traced the mark with his fingertips. He leaned in closer, pressing his bare forehead against hers.

"...but there's so much more I want to know about you," Kakashi whispered, his minty breath tickling her face, "your favourite colour, your guilty pleasures, and how you like to be held. I want to lay under the blankets with you during a rainstorm, or just sit beside you and read in silence. I want to see the secret places where you'd play as a child, the cute things you used to say when you were little. I want to know you, everything about you..."

He brushed his nose against hers, fingers in her hair. "I want to be the one you come to when you're scared, the one you think of when you're alone in the dark. I just want to hold you and make you feel safe and valuable." His firm hand on her tailbone urged her closer until their bodies touched. "I want to show you just how beautiful you are to me, how precious. I want to prove how much I care for you."

Then his lips brushed across her mouth, as soft as the touch of a butterfly. He cupped her neck beneath her ear, thumb stroking her cheekbone and tracing her jawline. He kissed her again. So gently, his lips quivering slightly as they pressed against hers. She was lost in the touch, the tremor, the taste. There was a biting chill to his kiss, a crispness like the first scent of frost in September. The cool, silken feel of his lips was an invigorating contrast to the silty evening air. She was lost to it, the wet and tender pressure, his tongue gliding along her lip ever so slightly. He was all that mattered. As his long fingers grasped her face and hips, pulling her close, she kissed him back with a hunger, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her torso against his. His mouth was passionate, ravenous, sending sparks through her nerves and making her mind flood with fog. It was like a snippet from the most beautiful dream. The warm dusk haze pressed in around them as their mouths worked against each other's, tremulous and exhilarating.

Then Erisu withdrew, fingertips fluttering up to the sensitive skin of her mouth. Astonished by the perfection of it as she gazed up at him in wonder. A murder of crows had gathered on the graves around them, jeering in hoarse voices. The sun was setting and Kakashi's hair glowed like coral in the warm glow. Behind him the sky was a smear of red and violet.

"I'm going to save you, Risu," he said breathily, "... _suki desu_." Then Kakashi leaned in once more and pressed his trembling, secret mouth against hers before turning away and vanishing in a plume of smoke. Erisu stood in the graveyard for an unknown amount of time, fingers pressed to her tingling lips, and tried to comprehend what'd just happened.

"Suki..." She whispered back to the empty cemetery.

~Kakashi~

The sweet taste of Erisu lingered on his lips as Kakashi slunk over the rooftops through the dark. He'd confessed and now he had to prepare himself for the fight ahead. He'd already steeled himself. Fully intending to captain the kids when they inevitable departed.

Shikamaru was probably formulating a plan at that very moment, it's what Kakashi would be doing in his position. It was what he was doing, in a manner of speaking, already strategizing the capture of Aya and Rokurou despite not knowing their whereabouts yet.

Shizune was working overtime. He could see her through the tall windows of the Hokage tower, writing and reading at Tsunade's desk. She had been bringing in those who knew Aya and her husband and interviewing them. So far everyone said the same thing: the house burnt down, Erisu fought with her stepfather in the market, and then the family was gone.

So far Yusha was the most likely source of information and Inoichi had been trying to uncover his location. Of course his search was now likely to be delayed due to the loss of his daughter's sensei.

Kakashi sighed irritably. Everything seemed to go wrong at the same time didn't it? The Fates had a dark sense of humour.

He couldn't bring himself to discuss the abuse Erisu might've suffered at the hands of her stepfather. He could only imagine your traumatizing it had been and would be to relive. He'd have to confront her on it eventually if he was to uncover the full story. But not now, not while she still mourned the loss of the monks. Even he wasn't that cold blooded.

He caught sight of Naruto and Konohamaru leaving Ichiraku Ramen and smiled sadly. Minato's son had eaten there whenever he was hurting and now he was taking Sarutobi's grandson there in his hour of need. Naruto really was growing up to be a great man. He'd matured so much since the first day he was assigned to Team Seven. The loud mouthed boy didn't need him anymore, not really.

Kakashi wandered through the empty streets, and other the moonlit rooftops consumed by his thoughts. The feeling of the coming storm was like condensation on his skin. It was different than before but he could still sense the air of murderous intent.

The Dawn was coming and he would face it when it did.

~Erisu~

The morning came like blood in the sky and Erisu slipped from the hospital unnoticed by anyone. She was an ordinary nurse heading home from the nightshift as she hurried through an alley beneath the red stained sky. She could feel it now that Kakashi had pointed it out, the chill of impending battle tingling on her disguised face as she headed home without permission.

She doubted she'd be noticed under the current circumstances. Teams were still out scoring the country for the Akatsuki and the village was crackling with tension and grief as the villagers reeled from the shock that the death of the Third's son had caused and reeling as shinobi prepared for Akatsuki prisoners that would hopefully be delivered soon. Erisu didn't have much hope that any Akatsuki would be apprehended. She was pretty certain that anyone who faced with the 'Zombie Twins' that Shikamaru and his team had reported about would be lucky to escape with their own lives let alone the immortal shinobi as their captives. That aside, she wouldn't hesitate to bind them in her Mental Nightmares if it meant they would no longer kill innocents...

Monks, she thought furiously and not for the first time, they slaughtered monks of all people! It was sickening.

While Erisu didn't consider herself religious at all (her mother had sullied faith in her mind) she did still identify as Buddhist, and had held the monks of the Fire Temple in very high regard, especially Chiriku. She couldn't forgive a crime like that...and there were few things she wouldn't forgive.

She'd been prepared to forgive her mother and Rokurou after all, for the sake of her siblings. She'd do anything for Rūka and Emi, and often lay awake sobbing about them... Maybe it was possible to rescue them from The Faith? She wondered this as she slipped into her apartment and resumed her natural form.

Aiko and Ookami raced over to greet her and Erisu dropped to her knees to stroke them adoringly.

"How have my fur babies been?" She asked lovingly as they followed her to her bed. "I've got so much to tell you." She turned her eyes out the window and glimpsed a lithe man with silver hair standing on a distant rooftop. Her stomach flipped with the giddy joy she'd come to associate with Kakashi.

"So much has happened," she told her cats in an airy voice, "my secret was exposed, a life was lost, an enemy was identified, and a love was realized."

She watched Kakashi until he slipped out of sight.

~Kakashi~

Two days after the funeral as the milky glow of sunrise crept over Konohagakure Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were heading through the gates. Kakashi leaned back to observe them as Tsunade appeared, she'd suspected their plans just as he had.

" _Stop!_ " The Hokage commanded, her face like thunder. The trio turned to face her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Godaime-sama..." Ino began nervously but Shikamaru spoke over her.

"The orders are still in effect right?" He said in his bored voice, cigarette smouldering in his mouth. "The eighteen are still all over, on the move. We're forming a new team and joining the mission."

"I'm not going to allow you to move so selfishly," Tsunade told him sharply, "I'll send a team to the place the enemy said they'd return." She paused, regarding them all carefully. "Shikamaru, you'll be added to a carefully formed team and then, and only then, you'll be allowed to go. Once a proper plan has been drawn up."

Asuma's students regarded her silently, Ino and Choji looked nervous but Shikamaru was unabashed. He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. Then he looked at her with calm indifference.

"Just send reinforcements after us," he said, "I've already formulated a strategy for Ino, Choji, and myself."

"Stop being unreasonable!" Tsunade exploded.

Shikamaru faltered, alarmed by her anger.

" _Asuma is dead_ ," she told them darkly, "right now there's only three of you. The basic shinobi squad consists of four members. Without a Taichou you-"

"Asuma is with us," Shikamaru interrupted, a plume of smoke wafting from his mouth.

"Are you planning on a joint battle with a funeral?" Tsunade demanded, "this isn't like you... Do you want to die needlessly?"

Shikamaru detached the cigarette from his lips saying, "we're not stupid. We have no intention of going to die. It's just..." He took a deep puff, eyes downcast.

"It's just what?" Tsunade prompted.

"To just run away like this... To live a life where I don't see things through..." Shikamaru's voice was soft and concise. His teammates flanked him, their eyes sharp with grief and determination. "I don't want to live a complicated life like that."

Kakashi was moved. His own determination to save Erisu reflected back at him on the faces of the three young Chūnin. Tsunade, however, wasn't impressed.

"Grow up," she said icily, "death comes with being a shinobi. There are times when death is hard to accept but if you don't get over it there's no future." She had the same bleak outlook as Erisu.

"This memento cigarette," Shikamaru said unexpectedly, "when I'm smoking I can feel Asuma-sensei close to me, like he's protecting us... That's how it feels anyways." He puffed again. "Until this battle is finished these cigarettes will be with me."

Tsunade had no patience for mementos or fanciful words. "Look at reality," she said, "there's only three of you..."

"A team needs just four people right?" Kakashi spoke up. He had the same outlook as Shikamaru. He wouldn't stand by or run away without seeing things through.

Tsunade rounded on him in surprise. "Kakashi-you..?" Asuma's students exclaimed their greetings. He strolled over to the Hokage.

"I'll go with them as their Taichou, how's that?"

"You?" Tsunade didn't appreciate him undermining his authority but he noticed the glint of understanding in her wise hazel eyes.

"If you stop them they'll just go anyways," he told her in an undertone, "this way if I go I can keep an eye on them."

She glared at him for a moment, missing nothing, then she gave in. "Fine! Do whatever!" She threw her hands up in an angry surrender.

"Thank you," Kakashi said placidly.

Choji whooped happily but Shikamaru was unconvinced.

"What about Naruto, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi considered him for a moment before replying. "Whatever.." He shrugged. "My usefulness to him is over. Besides, another Taichou is with him anyways."

Shikamaru smirked.

"Well, let's go Team Asuma!" Kakashi said and started through the gates. If he couldn't kill Rokurou he'd have to settle for slaying a couple of Akatsuki and getting some personal justice on Asuma's murderers.


	34. Chapter 32: Loyalties

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

 ** _Loyalties_**

~Erisu~

The dawn snuck up on her like an assassin. Diluted rays of sunrise bled through the curtains and cast disfigured shadows across the walls. Erisu looked up from her drawings as the choir of birds pulled her back to her apartment. She needed more time to consider, to plan, but morning was upon her and her time was up. Reluctantly she rose, gripping her desk to steady herself as her body swayed in dizziness. The last thing she wanted now was another fainting episode.

Erisu stumbled across the room to the kitchenette and chose espresso over tea. The exhaustion was worsening as of late but the night terrors and insomnia were too. It was a vicious cycle of cruel nightmares and sleepless nights.

Soon the apartment was full of the rich earthy smell of coffee beans as Erisu slipped into the bathroom to shower. The water was scalding hot, as she wanted it, the heat burning away the never ending pain as she breathed in the heavy steam. The water pounded her body, streaming over her face and down her spine. The thundering muted out all other sounds as she closed her eyes in the hot, wet dark. She would've stayed there forever if she could, let the drumming of the shower and the embrace of the steam steal her away from reality.

Erisu opened her eyes and lathered up her black scrunchie puff. Scrubbing and exfoliating, she soaped up every inch of her sore, delicate body. There was comfort to be found in something as mundane as bathing, it made her feel as though she weren't on her deathbed.

Climbing out and wrapping herself in a plush grey towel Erisu caught sight of her reflection. She looked like a corpse. Her skin was devoid of any colour, her sunken eyes encircled with a sickening shadow. Her collarbone jutted out and her shoulders were as thin as a fledgling bird. The curse was visible in her eyes now it seemed. So for the first time in ages, Erisu thought makeup was called for. Something to conceal her pallor and give life to her features...

The coffee was strong and bitter as she poured a liberal amount of cream and added three heaping tablespoons of unrefined cane sugar. It was her guilty pleasure, sweets were the only thing she consumed that was unhealthy and she knew she should cut back.

 _But if Ive only got a couple months left to live what's the point_?

Erisu started cooking. Without training her life seemed empty again, purposeless, and she hated it. But now she had plenty of spare time to improve her skills in the kitchen. She'd bought the ingredients the night before and was vaguely aware that this was the first time she'd had meat in her fridge. Unpacking the saury and disposing of the wrappings, Erisu set the fish on her cutting board and stared at it for a few moments. It was a rather pretty little fish, silvery blue with it's staring eyes glazed from death.

 _Don't dwell on it,_ she told herself sternly. She sliced the saury in half diagonally, split its stomach and washed it out under cold water. Then she set it in a glass mixing bowl and sprinkled it with sake. She set about making sticky rice and miso soup as the oven heated and the fish absorbed the flavours of the rice wine. As the soup simmered she pulled out a bowl of her pre-made miso glaze and sliced an eggplant into disks. She spread foil on the baking pans and brushed it with sesame oil and vinegar. Erisu rubbed the fish with salt and spread the golden glaze over the white, spongy eggplant.

While the saury and nightshade broiled Erisu filled a thermos with green tea and ladled the soup into a lidded bowl. She arranged the bento box, adding the bowl of miso and a light salad. Once the fish was crispy and the eggplant gold and glistening they were tucked into a bed of lettuce, sprinkled with diced shallots and grated radish. The rice was scooped in last, a pair of chopsticks and a packet of soya sauce completing the lunch.

"Perfect," she murmured aloud as she drained the last of her coffee and snapped a snug lid over the box. She wrapped it in a silver ribbon and slipped a sprig of purple aster into the bow. Kakashi's birth flower of September and a plant with the appropriate meaning of 'I'll never forget you.' Hopefully her sensei would like it.

It was still very early when Erisu emerged into the dull morning light of the empty village. The streets were deserted and the sky a cloudless haze of opaque blue. The leaves rattled in the thirsty trees and the occasional person could be spotted watering the plants on their balconies. Summer had hit the Land of Fire with all the wrath of a vengeful god, a drought that has scorched the grass brown and left the flowers parched and wilted.

Ookami and Aiko padding alongside her, Erisu slunk along in the shadows of the buildings as she crossed the village towards the Hatake District, her mind racing with what she'd say. His kiss was still vivid on her lips and she stroked her mouth with her fingertips distractedly. He'd confessed to her and now she had to make a decision.

She came to a stop beneath an orange shingled house in the typical haphazard style of Konohagakure. Hopping onto the overhang of the lower level, Erisu slipped slightly on the dew slicked tiles before scaling the wall. Using the many pipes and wires that clung to the building as footholds, she climbed up to his bedroom window. It was cracked open slightly, curtains drawn.

"O-sama," she called softly through the gap, "good morning, Kakashi-sensei!"

There was no response so she extended her mind into the dark room. He wasn't there. Not dispirited, Erisu dropped back into the street, wincing slightly as pain shot up her leg, and headed towards the training grounds. He must've left to train Naruto earlier today.

~Kakashi~

"Does everyone understand the plan?" Shikamaru asked as he took a long drag of his cigarette.

"Yeah," Choji and Ino said together. Kakashi nodded, impressed by Shikamaru's thorough planning. He'd already altered his strategy to best utilize Kakashi. This boy really was a genius. They set out into the Nara Forest, Shikamaru having granted them permission to enter, and headed towards the spot Shikamaru had designated on the map. The Nara boy lead the way, Choji bringing up the rear, and Kakashi fell into step alongside Inoichi's daughter.

"Ino-san," he said and she looked up at him with her dark, feline eyes, "I was wondering if I could ask you about your cousin Yusha-san?"

"Yusha?" She blinked at him, befuddled. "Okay. What do you want to know, sensei?"

"I heard you were rather close with him and his younger sister, Erisu-san," Kakashi began, "what can you tell me about them?"

"They were like siblings to me, but I don't remember them much," she told him, "I remember that Erisu used to braid my hair and do Ikebana with me..." She tapped her lip thoughtfully as she tried to recall something. "There was some sort of situation with Oba and Ouji and Erisu had to leave the village. I don't really remember what it was about, I was still really little.

"She came back three years later and I was so excited to see her but Oba and my dad didn't get along very well anymore so I didn't get to play with her very often." Ino thought for a moment, eyes distant. "Their house burnt down and they all moved away but Yusha came back not long after."

"When?"

"I was nine or ten I think?" She offered, "he was working at a sushi shop for awhile and partied a lot. He was always very charismatic and social." A fond smile curved her lips. "He's a virtuoso, an amazing singer, and can play any instrument you put in front of him."

"Did he ever mention his family?" Kakashi urged her.

"Now that I think about it..." Ino frowned, looking troubled. "...no, he didn't. Not really. He was always really vague when I asked about them."

Kakashi cursed silently but when he spoke his tone was casual. "He didn't say where they'd moved?"

"Only that it was somewhere to the north," Ino replied, "but practically everything is north of Konoha."

"That's true." Kakashi brooded silently as they reached the prearranged area. They set to work, following Shikamaru's meticulous directions and then the plan was in motion.

"Alright, everything's in place," Shikamaru said as he finished painting the Nara emblem on the forest floor.

"I found one," Kakashi called from the canopy, pointing towards a hawk in the branches of a nearby tree. The bird was busily preening its glossy feathers, uninterested in the shinobi below.

"Perfect." Shikamaru formed a seal. "Ready Ino?"

"Yes!" She framed the bird with her hands, dark eyes fixed on it. Shikamaru's shadow extended, snaking through the leaves and creeping up the rough truck like living darkness. The hawk stiffened, immobilized by the shadow and Ino cast her consciousness forward.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu," she said as her mind left her body and took over the hawk. She went limp, dropping into Choji's arms. Shikamaru released the bird of prey, his shadow retracting, and Ino took flight in her temporary body.

"And now we wait," Kakashi said, reclining against the tree.

"And now we wait." Shikamaru agreed.

~Erisu~

The training ground was a sea of waving yellow grass and wild flowers. Butterflies as large as a man's hand fluttered around the glade and birds called shrilly from every branch. Ahead, through the trees, Erisu spied a small group of men in the clearing ahead. A strange whistling sounded from the centre of the group, steadily growing into a screech of wind. The chakra was intense, assaulting her senses, as the sound deafened her.

Erisu peered through the flora to try and get a good look at what was happening but There was a sudden screaming of energy that tore through her and then a deafening bang as a massive sphere of spiralling wind erupted in the heart of the clearing. The wind swirled outward like a hurricane, defacing the landscape. Throwing her arms up in front of her face to shield her eyes from the dust storm, Erisu nearly lost her balance as the gale sent her skidding backwards. She heard frenzied scratching as her cats flew up trees in fright. Then the wind dwindled, the dust cleared, and Erisu witnessed the carnage.

Where the group of men had been only moments before there was now a crater. One figure stood on the edge of the cavity in the earth, gazing down the slope, then he slid into the hollow.

Winded and dumbfounded, Erisu brushed her wild hair out of her eyes. _What a jutsu..._ She expanded her mind as she approached and found Naruto and Yamato; Kakashi wasn't present. Confused, she crossed through the dust caked grass and peered into the bowl shaped indent. It was if a meteor had struck the training ground, or else a massive explosion. This was the power of the Kyūbi's jinchuriki.

"G-good morning!" She called tremulously, still shaken by the jutsu.

Yamato raised his dark possum-like eyes and looked at her in surprise. Beside him Naruto was a complete mess. Bruised and battered, his jumper frayed and wet with sweat, and his hair looked as though he'd just stepped out of a tornado. Well, he sort of did.

" _Eh_?" Naruto eyed her, his face flushed and dirty. "Who's that, Taichou?"

Yamato excused himself and leapt up to the edge of the bowl. He tilted his head and regarded Erisu curiously. She'd never interrupted Naruto's training sessions before.

"Good morning, Yamato-senpai," Erisu said nervously, trying to be forward and confident, "I'm sorry for the disruption..."

"Good morning, Erisu-san," he replied, "aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

"I was visiting my cats and..." He could see right through her. "I'm looking for Kakashi-sensei."

"Ah..." The understanding in Yamato's eyes was a little too precise for her liking. "He left at dawn."

"R-really?" She faltered, abashed.

"He's captaining Team Ten in the continuation of the Akatsuki Suppression Mission," Yamato explained, "they're on their way to ambush Asuma's murderers at the Bounty Office right now. Team Seven, lead by myself will depart to back them this time tomorrow."

Erisu's tongue seemed to be made of chalk. "The immortal..?"

"That's right," his voice was grim. They stood in silence for a moment while Naruto conjured two clones into existence from clouds of smoke. When the jōnin spoke again his tone was forcibly lighter, "Kakashi-senpai is one of the most powerful shinobi I know." He was trying to reassure her but failing.

"So was Sarutobi Asuma," Erisu replied. She knew it was pointless to worry; her anxiety would help no one.

"What did you need Kakashi-senpai for?" Yamato asked, pointedly changing the subject, "was it something urgent? Can I help?"

"Oh, no..." Erisu dropped her eyes to the aster bobbing in the residual breeze from Naruto's jutsu. "I just made him a lunch as all, to thank him for...well." She looked up at Yamato to find him smiling. "W-what?"

Yamato glanced down at Naruto to make sure he wasn't listening in then said, "I'm just glad that Senpai had someone." He looked back over at her, his disconcerting eyes soft. "I was concerned he'd spend his life alone."

Erisu was caught of guard, unprepared for his forwardness. "You think we're..?"

"I'm Anbu," he disclosed quietly, "I'm good at deduction. Besides, I've known Kakashi-senpai for ages so I've noticed the difference in his demeanour."

"What difference is that?"

"He smiles more," Yamato told her, "real smiles, not the artificial squints he makes to soften the blows of his frank speech. And I've noticed him touching his hair more." He shook his head in amusement. "It's a sight to behold, Senpai wanting to impress someone."

Erisu considered him for a moment, tempted to learn more, but she shrugged it off and diverted the topic. "Here." She presented him with the bento box. "I don't want it to go to waste and I imagine you and Uzamaki-san must be famished."

" _E-eto_..." He stared at the carefully ribboned package. "Thank you very much, Erisu-san."

"I hope you like it," she said as he accepted the lunch, "it's Kakashi's favourite."

Erisu headed back through the forest, ruffled cats on her heels, and did he best to manage her anxiety. She focused on her surroundings, letting herself feel the carefree minds of her feline companions, and after a while her fears became manageable. It was growing hotter as the sun climbed and Erisu made her way to the river where the only cool air was to be found. She sat in the rushes and soaked her feet in the cold current, reflecting on her moment with Kakashi in the cemetery. He was with Asuma's students now, with Ino. The thought of her cousin was like a thorn in her heart. Pretending to be a stranger every time she visited Yamanaka's flower shop was hard enough, but staying away while the girl mourned was agonizing.

She'd nearly reached out to her family so many times but fear prevented her. She was afraid of what they'd ask, what they'd say, and how she'd hurt them if they knew the truth.

"There you are Erisu-chan," a cold drawling voice called from the opposite bank. Yuma was staring at her from across the water, his eerie white eyes reflected on the churning surface like moons.

"Yuma-senpai..." She felt the sudden urge to flee but suppressed it. "Good morning."

He walked across the water, maintaining his balance easily despite the drag of the river, and tossed his liquorice black hair. Stepping into the reeds he loomed over her, haughty face twisted into a scowl.

"You've been avoiding me." It wasn't a question. "Every time I tried to visit the nurses would tell me you were sleeping or 'currently indisposed'." He folded his toned arms. "Explain."

"Terrible timing," she said meekly, "always showing up while I wasn't available to see you."

"Cut the crap, Erisu-chan," he said sharply, "you might be able to sense emotions but I can see your vitals and know your heart rate is elevated from lying."

"Ah. Yes. Of course you can."

"What are you doing out here anyways?" He demanded. "Tsunade is royally pissed that you've gone missing, wanting to send out a search party and everything. I told her you'd probably just snuck off to be alone."

"Erm...thanks?"

"You're welcome." His anger cleared rather abruptly and she picked up on an undertone of melancholy. It was as if all he'd ever wanted was a little gratitude. Those pale, pupiless eyes held hers and she suddenly felt guilty for ignoring him.

"I'm sorry, Senpai," she told him quietly as she returned her gaze to the river. "You were right in thinking that I've wanted to be alone. It's easier that way."

"Easier for who?" There was no accusation anymore as he lowered himself into the swaying fronds beside her.

"I used to think it would be easier for others if I shut them out but I've recently come to understand that I've been deluding myself." His face swirled in the water beside hers, staring at her intently. "I convinced myself I was being kind in refusing to let my friends in but I was only being cruel. Protecting myself."

"You're the kindest person I know," Yuma told her, "you saved my life before you knew me, sacrificed yourself to stop Hiroki's blade. Not many would do something like that."

"Well I am a sacrifice, aren't I?" She laughed wryly. "That's my lot in life."

"I don't think that's true."

She glanced up at him, surprised by how calm he sounded. He was still cold and arrogant but unusually sincere.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get back on your feet," he said simply, "that curse is just a label, like the brand on my brow, it shouldn't define who you are." He turned his pale face to hers. "We're more aalike than I think you'd care to admit."

"...we are?"

"From what I've gathered you were cursed by your mother," he said in his slow deliberate voice, "I was branded with this seal by my family as well, forced into service and never to become as renown as my cousins. We were both forced onto our current paths by those we loved. And you know what?"

"What?"

"I don't mind."

"You don't..?" Erisu found that very hard to believe.

"I'm still a Hyūga," he said proudly, "I still have my Byakugan, and on top of that I have a loyalty to my family that's unsurpassed. Not because of the cost of betrayal, but because of my own personal choice to make my clan proud." He smiled the first real smile she'd ever seen. "The larger the name I make for myself, the more esteem I'll bring to my family. I strive to be as famous and powerful as possible so that my clan will honour me and remember my name. I'll defend Hinata-hime with my dying breath to ensure the Hyūga live on. I'll demonstrate my abilities to spread the awe of the Byakugan across the nation until every person knows who we are.

"My clan is everything to me. It's even mentioned before me when I introduce myself. 'I'm _Hyūga_ Yuma, shinobi of the Leaf'." Yuma searched her face for a moment. "You're loyal too, same as me, and desperate to prove yourself. You're not as interested in making a name for yourself as I am, but you still strive to become the best you can be. I could tell when I trained you. You never backed down, never gave up, you pushed yourself to the point of collapse regardless of your illness and didn't heed my insults or jabs."

"You were picking on me to make me stronger?" Understanding clicked on in her mind.

"But of course," he said with a sniff, "you were weak. That's a fact. You caved under the stare of others and shut down at the slightest edge to their words. I had to toughen you up. What you'll hear on the battlefield is going to be far worse than anything another Konoha-nin might poke fun at."

"But you struck me with your gentle fist during aikido training..."

"Yeah." Yuma tossed a pebble into the water. "I was pissed off and have a temper."

"You and Kakashi-sensei..." She began tentatively.

"I hate him." Yuma threw another stone. "He's all mysterious and aloof, and always acts like he's cooler than everyone else. But what I hate most of all about him is that he's so awesome."

"W-what?"

"I'm jealous." Yuma said frankly. "He's the son of the White Fang, prized pupil of the Yondaime, Hero of the Sharingan. He had everything handed to him. The acclaim of his father, the genius of his clan, even a blasted Sharingan. Kakashi was possibly the most astounding student the academy ever produced. And what was I? Just some lower class Hyūga, one in a hundred. I graduated at fourteen while Kakashi became genin at _six_."

"But what does that have to do with-"

"With you?" He scoffed. "Only everything. You were like some divine angel, jumping in to save me and the way you healed me..."

"I'm a medical-nin," Erisu objected, "saving others is my directive."

"Yeah, well..." His glassy eyes fixed her to the bank beside him. "I fell in love with you."

"No." The word was out before she realized. "I mean..."

"You mean you love Kakashi," he said sourly, "yeah, I bet you do. What am I compared to him right?"

"That's unfair," she mumbled, "don't put that on me. I don't want to be caught in the middle of your feud."

"Our feud?" He repeated with a bitter smirk. "What did Raiketsu-Kakashi say, huh? That I was arrogant and self centred? Did he mention that he should've just backed me up and the mission would've gone smoothly? No, I assure you he didn't. For a man who talks so much about teamwork he sure has issues following the orders of others."

"What happened exactly?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He said it in a way that closed the subject off completely. "But you're loyal to him too, like you are to your family. You trained with me but you never called me sensei. We spent time together but you never looked forward to my company." He looked over at her again and there was a change in his eyes. "You're going to have to decide where your loyalties lie, Erisu-chan. With the mother who cursed you, or the village that saved you?" He rose to his feet, long hair stirring in the cool river breeze. "You think on that, but don't take to long deciding, because your time is almost up."

 **Author's Note:**

 _Sorry this chapter took so long!_ _I'm in the process of moving atm so I've been pretty busy..._

 _Since I follow manga canon I'm not sure if I should cover Team Ten's fight with Hidan and Kakuzu. It might be boring to read something you've already read and/or watched but maybe you'd still like me to include it? Let me know in your reviews please!_

 _~all my love, Elle_


	35. Chapter 33: A Commission for Konohamaru

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE**

 ** _Commission for Konohamaru_**

~Erisu~

"Tsunade-sama." Erisu stepped into the Hokage's office, Shizune closing the door behind her. "Please pardon this disturbance."

The Godaime looked up at her, forehead creased with stress. "Erisu-san," she said, straightening in her seat and steepling her fingers, "decided to come out of hiding have you?"

"I have." Erisu approached the heavy wooden desk. "Leaving without checking with you first was disrespectful and irresponsible. I've come to apologize, accept my punishment, and offer my assistance you, if you'll have me."

The Sannin regarded her for a moment, contemplating. "Very well," she said curtly, "so you understand the error of your ways and are seeking penance?" She shook her head. "Not necessary. You weren't a prisoner and although it's ill advised to leave a hospital before being discharged you weren't technically breaking any rules." She paused, analyzing Erisu with those critical eyes. "I can understand that what you're going through is difficult and that you were looking for an escape but that doesn't excuse your inconsiderate behaviour. Your disappearance placed strain on my medical-nin and myself, if it weren't for the advice of Hyūga Yuma a full search would've been ordered, and I'm sure you can imagine how disrupting that would've been." She narrowed her fierce eyes. "I expected better of Kakashi's student."

Erisu bowed her head. "Yes, Ohime-sama."

"I warn you not to cross me again," her voice was sharper than a kunai. "But I'm willing to put it all behind us if you swear to your Hokage not to be so negligent in future. You are a shinobi of the Leaf and I expect you to act accordingly."

"Yes, Ohime-sama," Erisu repeated, meeting her eyes steadily. "I swear."

"Good." She dipped her head in curt acceptance. "I'm assigning you to emergency trauma at the hospital, whether you take it as punishment or as a mission is up to you. You have proved yourself to be a very capable medic and with the ongoing Akatsuki Suppression Mission we need all hands on deck in case of injury." She smiled thinly. "If I didn't already have a student and circumstances were different I might've considered teaching you a few things myself."

Erisu was speechless so she bowed in response.

"Go on," Tsunade said, "Sakura is there right now, she'll tell you where to go."

"Yes, Godaime-sama." Erisu bowed again and hurried from the tower.

The hospital was full of white clad medical-nin and patients of all varieties of ailments. Erisu caught the attention of the receptionist with a nervous smile.

"Pardon me, I've been sent to see Haruno Sakura." The receptionist flagged down a nurse and soon Erisu was heading down the hall towards the emergency trauma ward.

Sakura was inside with her blossom coloured hair pulled back and dressed in a medical uniform as she performed a complicated healing ritual on an unconscious Inuzuka woman. Erisu hovered uncertainly at the edge of the room as Sakura pressed her glowing palms against the woman and attempted to close a grisly wound in her clavicle. The patient looked as though she'd been mauled by a bear. Sakura glanced up at Erisu and offered a strained smile.

"Would you give me a hand here?" She asked, "she had a bit of an accident during training with her ninken."

Erisu eyed the injury as she joined in the healing and was silently thankful that her cats only gave her minor scratches. With their combined efforts the Inuzuka was quickly mended. Sakura set about preparing a poultice while Erisu set up a saline drip. They chatted as they worked, treating a few other critically injured shinobi and some maimed civilians. Sakura was pleasant to be around, optimistic, polite, and incredibly intelligent. She was telling Erisu about how Tsunade has taken her on as an apprentice after Sasuke defected to Prochimaru and Naruto left for Mount Myōboku with the Toad Safe Jiraiya when a deathly pale boy with ebony hair and black clothes appeared. The boy from the Roots.

"Sakura," he said, his aura intense but his face blank, "Naruto is ready."

Sakura nearly dropped the forceps she was holding. "So then..?"

He nodded. "We leave in an hour."

Erisu contained her emotions. Reinforcements, good.

"Erisu-san," Sakura addressed her, "I'm leaving you in charge of my department while we're gone."

Erisu dipped her head respectfully, vaguely conscious that she considered the younger girl her superior while they were in the hospital. She was Tsunade's prized pupil after all.

"Be careful, Haruno-san," Erisu said grimly, "never underestimate the Akatsuki."

Sakura nodded solemnly then turned back to Sai. "I need to go home to get my gear, where are we meeting?"

"The front gates," he answered as they disappeared through the doors.

Erisu dropped her eyes back to the shinobi on the operating table and resumed the Mystical Palm Technique, her thoughts on the battlefield with Teams Ten and Seven.

~Kakashi~

Kakashi looked down at the ragged old man pitilessly. Body torn open at the seams like an organic ragdoll with dark tendrils protruding from the stitches, repulsive stuffing. He was like a broken old toy. The threads of his mouth were torn open, black tentacles spilling out like vomit as he grunted and gurgled in pain and rage.

"For me to be beaten by kids like you..." Kakuzu rasped furiously.

Kakashi regarded him with cold eyes. "Well if you fought the Shodai then I guess we must seem like kids to you." He tilted his head, surveying the ruddy, half disintegrated flesh and the pulsing vein like contents of kakuzu's shredded back. "...but to us you're just a crazy old man."

The bounty hunter glared up at him with bloodshot eyes of outmost loathing.

"But let me tell you something," Kakashi said, lowering his voice as if confiding a secret, "from one generation to another..." Electricity sparked up in hand, concentrating into a blade of lighting. "...the younger generation will always exceed the last."

He plunged the raikiri in deep, blood gushing forth and soaking through the sleeve of his shirt with a satisfying squish. Kakuzu let out a strangled cry, jerking and spasming as the electricity coursed through him, then went still. Kakashi shook the blood off, scattering droplets of tarry red across the decimated landscape, and straightened to survey the corpse.

Above him, beyond the lip of the crater, he could hear the others moving off so he hoisted Kakuzu's mangled body over his shoulder and cleaned up the mess.

~Erisu~

The doors to emerge slid open and Erisu dashed over, chakra humming in her fingers. Choji and Sai stumbled in, supporting Naruto between them. The jinchuuriki was in horrible condition, his face glistening with sweat and his clothes caked with blood and dirt. The rest of teams Seven and Ten filed in after them, Shikamaru's team the most noticeably battered. Everyone was present except-

Kakashi stepped in and Erisu could breathe again. But his appearance was terrifying, his mask was torn, his headband and vest missing, and his hair was a silver disaster. His arms were burned and his clothing singed and soiled. He looked as if he'd just walked through a minefield. Erisu gazed across the crowded room at her sensei, eyes stinging. She was overcome with relief. His Sharingan was closed, scar bold on his pale skin, and his graphite eye met hers. It softened, a gentle smile of reassurance, and she managed to turn away to face her responsibilities.

"Lay him here," she instructed of Sai and Choji. The boys helped Naruto onto a stretcher as two more medical-nin swept over to help.

"What happened?" Erisu asked the room in general, "the Akatsuki..?"

"Are dead," Shikamaru answered, "well, as dead as they'll get."

The other medics were tending to Naruto so Erisu could approach Kakashi safely. "O-sama," she began, but he shook his head.

"I'm fine," he told her, "I look worse than I feel, seriously."

"Take Uzamaki-san to room fourteen," Erisu said to the medics, "I'll tend to Hatake-san."

"Yes, Hakuchō-san." They wheeled Naruto away, Sakura and Sai in tow, and the room was suddenly still. A wave of shock and comprehension washed over her and Erisu turned to track the source. Ino was staring at her, hand to her mouth and eyes round. Erisu froze; their gazes locked.

" _Erisu_..?" Ino whispered, stepping forward trepidatiously. "Is it really you?"

"Ino-chan..." Erisu said quietly.

"...but every time you were in the shop?" Ino couldn't understand. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I wanted to, truly I did. It was only that-" she was cut off as her cousin enveloped her in an embrace, burying her face in her neck. Erisu hesitated for a fraction of a second before hugging the younger girl close. She could feel Ino's strong body, her long soft hair, and tears burned her eyes. The sweet flowery scent of Inoichi's shop mingled with sweat and blood of the battlefield.

When Ino released her, her eyes were glistening with dew. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"I'm sorry..."

"You should be!" But her anger fell flat. "Pretending we were strangers... Shame on you."

But Erisu was too busy taking in her cousin's growth to reply. She could look at her blatantly now, not the furtive glances she'd steal in the shop. She was slender, her pale exposed stomach flat and toned, and her long legs were lean and strong. She was so womanly now, curvy with hair so long it would turn any head when she walked by. But it was her eyes that Erisu couldn't look away from, dark teal with dark lush lashes. They were enthralling, siren eyes.

"You're so beautiful..." Erisu said, managing a weak smile, as she caught Ino's pale ponytail and let the silken strands flow through her fingers. "...you're even taller than me now."

Ino flicked her long side bang and smiled uncertainly. Her eyes were taking Erisu in with the same brokenhearted hunger.

"Where have you been?" Ino asked in a whisper. "Why didn't you say anything? I made Chūnin and...so much has happened..." Her voice broke.

"I know," Erisu murmured, pulling her little cousin into her arms again, "I'm so sorry...for everything."

"Asuma-sensei..." Ino choked.

Erisu squeezed her eyes shut as blood streaked down her face, overwhelmed by Ino's grief, and squeezed her hard against herself. Ino sobbed silently, all her suppressed sorrow and anger pouring out. Erisu stroked the nape of her neck comfortingly, her other hand on the smooth curve of Ino's bare back. She held her desperately, not wanting to lose her again.

"I'm sorry," she said into Ino's hair, "I should've been there for you...at your graduation, your exams, the funeral..." Ino's body shook with renewed grief. "...but I'm here now and I'm not going to hide anymore. I promise."

Ino's shuddering breaths gradually subsided and she pulled back, searching Erisu's eyes. The betrayal and pain had changed to burning curiosity.

"What happened?" She asked again, "where did you go? Why are you back? What happened to Rūka-kun and Emi-chan? Where's Yusha?"

"I can't answer any of that now," Erisu said, forcing herself to sound firm, "right now there are injured to be tended to."

Ino nodded professionally. They both understood that their duties as medical-nin came first. "Right."

Erisu turned back to Kakashi at last, his eye was fixed on her and his hands in his pockets. She was fiercely aware of the stares of Shikamaru, Choji, and Yamato, but ignored them as she made for her sensei.

"O-sama," she addressed him again, "if you would follow me I'll treat your wounds."

She lead the man into a small empty room and slid the door shut behind him. Kakashi seated himself on the bed, eye following her as she rummaged through her kit for the appropriate treatments. He was bound to ask about her relationship to Ino but she had no energy left to discuss it, eyes still burning.

"Take your shirt off please," she said without looking up, busy mixing a quick ointment, "I need to get a look at those burns."

"I'm fine," he insisted but Erisu wouldn't hear it.

She moved to Kakashi's side as he slipped his dark shirt over his head exposing the singed and twisted kasuri mail beneath. Reaching around him, Erisu unfastened the mesh armour and helped him shoulder out of it. With a heavy thunk the mail fell onto the cold linoleum and Kakashi arched his spine at the reduced weight. His arms were mottled with burns and laced with cuts, shrapnel and charred splinters of wood embedded in his pale flesh.

Erisu knelt between his knees and started removing the foreign objects with medical tweezers, his eye fixed on her.

"Who did this to you?" She asked him as she disinfected the abrasions.

"Kakuzu," Kakashi replied as she started bandaging his forearm. "An S-rank missing-nin and bounty hunter from Takigakure."

"Fire style?" She asked as she treated the burns.

"Every style actually."

Erisu stared at him as he swept his hair out of his eyes. "I beg your pardon?"

"I haven't encountered a foe as trying in a long time," he told her, "he'd fought the Shodai Hokage."

"Then he had to be at least...ninety years old?"

"Exactly." Kakashi sighed. "He'd extend his own life by harvesting the hearts of his victims and integrating them into his own body, concealing them inside masks which he could animate to fight alongside him. He had five hearts in total, including his own, and would connect his chakra circulatory system to his four extra hearts which somehow granted him the chakra nature and affinities of the previous owners."

"That's..." She wasn't sure if she wanted to say amazing or disgusting.

"I know." He tugged down his mask and rubbed his face with his free hand. "We took out three of his hearts when Team Seven arrived. Naruto finished Kakuzu off with his new Fūton: Rasenshuriken jutsu, and I delivered the fatal blow, and I cleaned up afterwards."

By 'cleaned up' she knew he meant dealing the fatal blow and disposing of the body. "I saw Uzamaki-san practicing," Erisu said, "that technique is astounding."

Erisu shook her head in amazement as she bandaged her sensei's burns. "And the immortal?" She asked.

"Hidan." Kakashi massaged his temple wearily. "Shikamaru dismembered him and buried him in the Nara Forest."

"Ah. How...gruesome."

He chuckled, nodding, as she straightened to inspect the cuts on his face. His injuries weren't that severe, but he was visibly exhausted from the battle. But his mood was lighter than it had been in a while.

"Did something else happen?" She queried.

"What?" He glanced up as she paused in swabbing his cheek. "What do you mean?"

"It's only you seem different some how."

He smiled, eye distant. "I had a bit of an epiphany," he told her quietly, "about Naruto... I think he's finally surpassed me." Erisu searched his face curiously. "The next generation will always transcend the one before it..." He met her eye then and his deep voice lowered. "I looked at him and I saw..." He trailed off uncertainly.

"...Yes?"

"I saw the Yondaime, my sensei," he admitted quietly, "his father."

"Yamikaze Minato is Uzamaki-san's father..?" She exclaimed in a hush, hands shooting to her mouth. Kakashi nodded calmly. "So then..." She couldn't really express what she was feeling into words. "The Yondaime sealed the Kyūbi into his own infant son?"

"Yes, but not in the way you're imaging," Kakashi said, catching her hands, "he sealed the majority of The Fox in himself first, that was what killed him. He gave Naruto the tails."

Erisu examined Kakashi's fingers twined with hers, singed and reddened with dried blood, whether the blood was his own or that of his enemies she couldn't tell. His hands were warm, rough from combat and the scent of the battlefield clung to his skin. The warm earthiness of the forest, the smoky hint of fire and the metallic undertone of blood, the smell of the murder he'd just committed. She tried to avoid his eyes but he gently turned her face back to his, his lips parted in a crooked smile.

"Minato-sama wouldn't have done that to Naruto if it could've been avoided," he told her, "and if anyone can temper the Kyūbi I think it'll be Naruto."

Kakashi had such faith in his students, as the Yondaime had in his son. She thought of Lady Chijo sacrificing herself for Gaara to right the wrong of her grandson, of Yuma defending and honouring the Hyūga heir Hinata, and of the Yondaime giving his life to protect his village and his newborn son. They'd all been selfless, giving themselves up for their families and the next generation. So why was her mother so different?

"There's something else that requires your attention," he said quietly, "more pressing than my minor injuries."

She looked up. "Yes?"

"I spoke with your uncle, Yamanaka Inoichi," he said, smile gone. Her heart dropped into her stomach and all warmth drained from her body.

"Oh... Inoichi-ojisan," she whispered weakly, "...and how's he?"

"Risu..." The slope of his shoulders and the pity in his eye said everything. He knew about Rokurou.

"Well," she interrupted sharply, pulling her hands out of his and straightening abruptly. "I think we're all done here. Your wounds aren't very serious and you're free to go." She swept over to the nearest cabinet and busied herself in reorganizing the supplies.

"Risu..." He started again but she kept her back to him, heart spasming horribly like a frenzied bird trapped in her ribcage. He couldn't know, he couldn't, he couldn't. She meticulously sorted syringes by size, then, realizing everything was perfect, decided to sort them by the translucency of the plastic as well.

Then Kakashi spoke, "I'm going to find them." His voice was hard and staunch. "Inoichi-san is already in the process of tracking down your brother and Shizune-san is systematically interviewing your mother's old friends to find out her whereabouts-"

"I advise you not to pursue this, Kakashi," she said disparagingly, back facing him, "nothing good will come of it."

"I'm going to find your mother and stepfather," his voice dropped to a growl, "I'll deal with Rokurou myself. Then I'll make Aya-san remove the curse-"

Erisu slammed the cabinet shut so hard that a bin of linens fell from atop it, scattering bandages across the linoleum. She couldn't bear the sound of her stepfather's name, especially spoken in Kakashi's voice.

" _Just stop!_ " She cried, rounding on him as her panic rose rapidly. "You're wasting time and resources on a pointless goose chase! Just leave it and focus on what's actually important: the Akatsuki."

Kakashi stared at her, taken aback by her sudden anger, then his eye narrowed. "It's not pointless," he said sharply, "it'll save your life."

"You're wrong," she said flatly, "they're impossible to find, and even if you did somehow force their location out of Yusha your efforts would be useless. Aya will never remove the curse. Do you understand? Never."

Kakashi advanced, every line of his body sharp with fury. "That's not good enough."

"Well its gonna have to be." She crossed her arms defiantly. "Aya won't release me. She'd sooner dance on my grave than admit she was wrong. In fact I'm sure she's happily reflecting on the ritual right now."

"So you remember the ritual?"

She scoffed and started to stalk away but he caught her wrist roughly and forced her to face him.

"You need to tell me exactly what happened, Erisu. Everything." His fingers dug into her shoulders painfully, "it's the only way to save you."

"Don't you get it?!" Her eyes stung. "I can't be saved!"

"Do you want to die?" He demanded angrily.

"Well no but-"

"You're content to make me burry you?"

"It's not like that-"

"Explain it to me then."

"It's complicated-"

"You're the one making it complicated," he said darkly, "stop fighting me."

"Stop fighting fate!" She retorted.

"I won't." He said through gritted teeth, "I'll fight it every step of the way if I have to. I'm going to find her whether you like it or not."

"You can't," she repeated in exasperation, "Aya is far too skilled at hiding and Yusha is so dedicated to her that he'd let you disembowel him before betraying her."

He started to talk but knowing what he was going to say she spoke over him.

"He knows about the curse, Kakashi. He told me himself that I got what I deserved for leaving The Faith. And he knows about-" she choked on the name but forced herself to say it anyways, "about Rokurou. But he maintains Aya's version of events: he believes I made it all up out of spite."

Kakashi's brows knitted in obvious abhorrence.

"Yeah," she smiled humourlessly, "that's right. So you won't get anything out of him. Not answers, not even pity. I'm telling you: _give up_."

"Never." He answered fiercely.

Erisu wrenched herself from his grasp and glared at him critically. "What is this?" She demanded, "what are you playing at?"

He stared back blankly. "What?"

"Why are you doing this?!" Her voice rose and she blinked rapidly to clear away her tears before they escaped. "I just want to live out my last few months in peace, helping others. Why are you dragging all this back up? I was over it. I wasn't afraid anymore! But now I am!" The tears overflowed. "I've spent the past four year and a half years trying to get away from them, trying to forget what happened and you're bringing it all up again. You're digging up stuff that's better left buried. If I have to go back there... If I have to face him, see those cold dead eyes of his..." She swallowed hard. Terror wedged between her ribs like a blade, making every breath short and painful. "...if you find them, if you see what they're like... What they've done..." Her voice cracked, "you'll hate me."

"Risu..." Kakashi's voice wavered slightly, "I could never hate you."

"You..." She faltered, "you can't know that for certain. You have no idea what it was like... What I was like."

"I don't care," he said earnestly, "it doesn't matter as long as I can break the curse."

"You're Hatake Kakashi," she told him, fixing him with an admonitory gaze, and forcibly licking away her emotions again. "The Hero of the Sharingan, an immeasurably skilled jōnin, a vital player in the fight against the Akatsuki threat. You're a Taichou, and the sensei of Konohagakure's own jinchuuriki. The Akatsuki is what you should be focussing on."

He tried to interrupt but she ploughed on. "They killed Gaara-sama, tried to turn Haruno-san into a puppet, and murdered Asuma-sensei in cold blood simply for some reward money. It took eight Konoha-nin to take out two Akatsuki, and now they'll be coming for Uzamaki-san, you know they will. You have far greater concerns than removing a curse from an insignificant, condemned girl. Please," she begged, "give this up. The village is the priority, protecting the Kyūbi from the Akatsuki. I can't have you sacrificing anything because of me."

Kakashi, having stood in stoic silence as she spoke, moved closer one step. His eye searched hers but for what she couldn't tell.

"Risu," he said at last, "I won't give up..." He hesitated, moving another step forward. "... I can't do this without you."

She regarded him incredulously, "I'm sorry?"

"I..." He ran a hand nervously through his hair. The room was strangely quiet after the heated argument. "...Risu, I need you on my side in this and-"

The door opened suddenly and he cut his words off short, tugging up his mask. Tsunade strode in, her sharp hazel eyes surveying them coldly. Shizune swept in behind the Hokage looking strained and unrested.

"Well?" The Godaime prompted, eyes appraising them each in turn, "are you finished shouting?"

Erisu's face burned, "you heard us, Ohime-sama..?"

Her mouth twitched slightly in amusement as she took in Erisu's shamefaced expression.

"Relax," she said, "it's nothing compared to the fights I've had with Jiraiya." She turned to Kakashi and said briskly, "Inoichi-san's found Hakuchō Yusha."

Erisu's intestines seemed to have been swapped for live snakes.

"He's running a stand in a small merchant town less than a day east of Konoha," Tsunade told them, "I can send a team to collect him for questioning if-" she paused and turned her eyes on Erisu. "-if you want me to."

"No."

"Yes."

Kakashi and Erisu, having spoken at the same time, locked eyes. His concrete iris maintained a cold determination as he glowered unblinkingly at her.

"Please dispatch a collection team immediately, Tsunade-sama," he said curtly, eye still fixed firmly on Erisu, as if to restrain her with his gaze, "in fact-" He broke eye contact and faced to Hokage. "I'll lead it."

"No!" Erisu repeated angrily, he ignored her so she beseeched the Hokage, "please Tsunade-sama, my brother won't tell you anything! All the ninja should be here in Konoha in case the Akatsuki strike, not galavanting across the countryside on a menial errand."

"She has a point, Kakashi."

"But it's not a menial errand, Kakashi argued, "Not only would breaking the curse on Erisu save her life but it'll also broaden our understanding of obscure jutsu. Think of what we could learn."

"Well... I suppose-"

"It's pointless!" Erisu insisted, "Yusha won't reveal her location and the manpower required to track Aya down and force her into compliance will add strain that Konoha can't afford right now!"

"Yes, maybe we could delay-"

"We don't have the luxury of time," Kakashi alleged, "Erisu has nine months, possibly less. Who knows how much irreparable damage could be done between now and then?"

"That's irrelevant!" Erisu exploded, "how many times do I have to tell you that my life doesn't matter?!"

Kakashi whipped around, lightning crackling in his hands. " _ **It matters to me!**_ "

Confounded, Erisu was struck mute. He recomposed himself immediately, turning his face away from her and exhaling sharply. Tsunade and Shizune were shocked by his outburst as well, there was a reason he was called Coldblooded-Kakashi.

"If I may," Shizune began carefully, "Yusha-san retired from active shinobi duty when he was fifteen and still a genin. Ebisu-sensei has requested a mission to help distract Kobohamaru from the death of his uncle..."

"Yes." Tsunade nodded thoughtfully. "At genin rank, Yusha-san shouldn't be difficult for three genin and a specialized jōnin to capture..."

"And considering they've only been doing D-rank missions their absence wouldn't be felt," Shizune said, "we could have Yusha-san back here by tomorrow morning."

"But on what grounds would you apprehend him?" Erisu demanded heatedly, "my brother hasn't done anything!"

"Actually..." Tsunade turned to her, looking slightly triumphant. "...he's a misdemeanant wanted for several crimes including; possession and trafficking of illegal substances, public intoxication, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, trespassing, vandalism, and..." She smirked slightly. "...bathing in a public fountain in broad daylight."

Erisu groaned inwardly. She wouldn't put any of that past Yusha. Must her brother be such a fool?

"But as those are misdemeanours shouldn't they be handled by the local law enforcement?" She knew she was pushing her luck with Tsunade's temper, especially when she'd only barely gotten off for her disappearance the day before.

"I doubt they'd object," Tsunade replied, "he's been deemed a Public Menace so I'm sure they'd be glad to be rid of him."

"But-"

"I'd say that settles it," Kakashi spoke over her. "Please inform me as soon as Yusha-san is in custody. I want to be present for the interrogation."

"But Kakashi-"

"Certainly," Tsunade said to him, "I'll summon you as soon as he arrives." She and Shizune left as suddenly as they'd arrived and Erisu was alone with Kakashi again.

"But Kakashi, _please_..." Her eyes brimmed with fresh tears. "...don't hurt my brother, promise me."

He looked at her closely, studying her pleading expression. "I can't promise that." And he strode from the room. Erisu stood numbly as she realized that this time tomorrow her brother may be paid a visit from Morino Ibiki.


	36. Chapter 34: Ookami

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR**

 ** _Ookami_**

~Kakashi~

Standing on the stone ridges of Minato's spiky hair, Kakashi scanned Konohagakure laying beneath the ever watching faces of the five Hokages. He settled on the top of the Yondaime's head and gazed down at the circular village that spread peacefully below, mottled with trees and dotted with people. It was a different world from up here, muted and blurred like a painted scenery rather than a living, breathing town. The sun was setting, casting a lens of red and gold over the disorderly arrangement of wooden buildings and shingled roofs. Above, a murder of crows cackled and cried as they spiralled across the flaming sky on their way to roost.

The warm wind buffeted his hair, the air calm and soundless. In his mind Erisu's distressed shouting echoed painfully. He'd been so preoccupied piecing together the puzzle of Erisu's past to try to save her that he hadn't considered what unearthing the skeletons in her closet might do to her psyche.

Her words swirled around in his head, her voice broken with fear, "why are you dragging all this back up? I was over it. I wasn't afraid anymore! But now I am!"

Kakashi had never meant to make her cry and now he was starting to understand why she'd been making so many excuses, why she hadn't wanted him to know. He despised himself for putting her through all the pain she'd endured as a child all over again but if he was going to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her curse there was bound to be some dirty laundry to be found. The things he'd seen and the cases he'd solved in his line of work had been grisly and twisted, having pursued some of the most perverse and horrid S-Rank criminals while in the Anbu. He didn't think anything he discovered could possibly change his opinion of Erisu, but he was still dreading what was so terrible that she thought he'd hate her.

I could never hate her, he knew, there isn't a mean bone in her body.

While he now knew, at least in part, why she wanted to escape her family and pretend she'd never been cursed, Kakashi couldn't understand how she could just accept her nearing death as fate and stop fighting. She'd called herself insignificant, irrelevant, pointless, didn't she know just what she meant to him by now? She should be able to feel his emotions after all, shouldn't she? Could an empath of her talents really be so ignorant of another's love for her, or was she simply in denial?

He sighed, tangling his hands in his hair. He lowered his face into his knees and groaned into the fabric of his trousers. Why did she have to be so difficult?

Still, despite his resignations, Kakashi was glad they were making some headway. Team Ebisu had been dispatched a mere hour after he'd spoken to Tsunade in the hospital. But there was more the Hokage had told him once they were away from Erisu: that Yusha was going by the surname Yamanaka and was busily drinking and whoring himself across the Land of Fire and besmirching the clan's good name. Inoichi was furious, and rightly so, but they'd all thought it best not to disclose that newfound aspect of the boy to his sensitive sister. Kakashi couldn't grasp how two siblings could turn out so differently, but then, he was an only child. A manly musk drifted downwind and Kakashi cast a tired eye over his shoulder.

"Yo, Gai," Kakashi said, "what's up?"

"Just thought I'd check in." His rival hopped down the cliffside and joined Kakashi on Minato's likeness. He settled himself on the brim of the Fourth's headband, legs dangling over the edge.

"Hm." The fairer man future ex his gaze to the horizon.

"What's the news?" Gai asked, dark eyes following his friend's line of sight to the setting sun.

"Both teams returned mostly unharmed, Akatsuki defeated." He replied. "Shikamaru's strategies didn't fail to impress and Naruto has improved the rasengan beyond that of the Yondaime himself."

"Shizune already told me that," Gai said, eying Kakashi reproachfully, "you know what I meant."

Kakashi rubbed his head, stifling a sigh. "Team Ebisu is pursuing Erisu's older brother Yusha-san," he told his friend. "They should have him back here by tomorrow morning."

"Well that's good, right?" Gai tried at a grin but he must've seen something in Kakashi's eye for it faded. "Not good?"

"Erisu is strongly opposed," he muttered, "she thinks we're wasting resources. She doesn't seem to understand her own worth." Kakashi tossed a pebble off the cliff and watched it fall soundlessly out of sight. He described their argument in the hospital, excluding his minor outburst, although he had the feeling Shizune would've relayed all of this to Gai already. It was was likely why Gai had sought him out, wanting to gauge Kakashi's emotional state and offer support whether was needed. He was invaluable, the only one who fully grasped how much the loss of comrades effected him. Well, now Erisu might understand too.

"Sounds like someone I know," Gai mused, "thinking its too late to start, that they're too invaluable to love..?"

Kakashi looked up, eye narrowed. He knew where this was going.

"You're still young, Kakashi," Gai said encouragingly, "and anyone would be lucky to have you. I'm sure Erisu-chan would accept you if you-"

"I did."

Gai stared at him. "You did what?"

"I confessed to Erisu," his voice was grey.

Gai was invigorated. "I knew you had it in you!" He declared, clapping him on the back like a sledgehammer. "When was this? Where were you? What did she do? Tell me everything!"

Kakashi cast him an amused eye. "It was right after Asuma's funeral," he said, feeling as if he were taking off weights as heavy as Lee's. "In the cemetery..."

Gai pulled a face. "Well I can't say I care much for your taste in romantic settings but I'm still proud of you."

"After seeing Kurenai at his tombstone..." Kakashi turned his eye back to the bloody sunset on the horizon ahead. "...I realized that would be me in a few months if I didn't do anything... And if I'd just let her die without ever telling her... Well, whatever." He shook it off and tousled his hair uncomfortably. This heart to heart was too awkward for him, but Gai wasn't so easily dissuaded.

"Well what did she say?" His round black eyes were fixed on Kakashi, avid and listening.

"She didn't really say anything." Kakashi shrugged. "I left after I said it."

" _You ran away?!_ " Gai was on his feet, eyes burning. "You should've declared your undying love, wrapped her in your arms and kissed her!" He grasped the other man's shoulders, heaving him off the stone, and shook him violently. "Kakashi you fool! Don't you know she loves you with her whole being?! She's dedicated to you heart and soul! All you need to do is ask her and she'll give herself to you!"

" _Oi! Oi! Oi!_ " Kakashi objected, forcing Gai's iron hands off of him. "I did kiss her alright?" He straightened his clothes, glowering. "Calm down."

"You-you did?!" Gai's eyes welled with tears. "Oh the power of youth! The fires of love! The sweet blooms of a budding romance!"

"I'm almost thirty," Kakashi said dryly, averting his gaze as Gai tried to contain his sobs. "I don't think I fit into that category anymore." He watched the crows swirling around the treetops, their jarring voices audible even from on high.

Gai struggled to compose himself. "When you kissed her," he said more seriously, "how did she react?"

Kakashi chewed his lip under his mask, the taste of her mouth still seemed to linger there. His hand clenched involuntarily, as if catching in her hair. "Well she didn't hit me," Kakashi dodged.

" _Aha!_ She kissed you back?" Gai beamed. "I knew she would! Who wouldn't! Am I right?" He nudged Kakashi but the copy ninja didn't respond, eye still following the crows and hands in his pockets.

"Am I doing the right thing?" He asked quietly.

"Of course!" Gai boomed. "Helping break the curse on Erisu-chan is obviously the right thing to do!" Kakashi hadn't told Gai about Rokurou. He'd only disclosed that information to Tsunade directly, even ensuring Shizune was out of the room, so Gai couldn't know how fragile Erisu really was.

"That's not what I meant," Kakashi said, looking over at Gai. The taijutsu master's glossy hair glowed red in the sunset. "Am I doing the right thing pursuing her? She's so broken and I want to fix her but-"

"You can't fix her," Gai said, "you can be there to help her pick up the pieces but only Erisu can put herself back together again. Do you understand? She's not a puzzle for you to solve, Kakashi, keen as your mind may be."

"Don't be so cryptic," Kakashi said irritably.

"You're so caught up trying to save her that you haven't considered helping her save herself." Gai fixed Kakashi with his obsidian eyes. "You're her sensei, so teach her. You're her partner, so assist her. Stop trying to do it for her and try offering her a hand in fixing the problem herself. What's your favourite word again, Kakashi?"

"Teamwork," he answered, pondering this.

"Exactly." Gai nodded sagely. "Show Erisu the path she needs to walk and I assure you she'll run it..." He swung his arm around Kakashi's shoulders. "...on her hands."

~Erisu~

The streetlights guttered on with the flickering awkwardness of a bulb that needed changing, moths immediately swarming to smack themselves against them in a bizarre fetish of burning alive. As the warm glow of the electricity illuminated the fog that was seeping into the village from the river, Erisu wandered down the empty street carrying her favourite book. She couldn't bring herself to open the pages, but still felt comforted by having its worn shape in her hands. The Incredibly Gutsy Ninja was so brave while she'd never felt more weak and helpless. His adventures at this time would make her feel more trapped than ever. She stood beneath the streetlamp, staring up at the sputtering blaze in a sort of trance, captivated like an insect. Bats flashed past, swallowing up the defenceless lepidopterans like assassins cloaked in wings. Yusha was being hunted too, pursued by those trained in the art of murder.

She sighed dejectedly and collapsed onto a low bench, staring at the plain cover of the novel. It was cheesy and full of one liners but Erisu had loved it all her life. As she'd hidden away in the ancient willow tree and daydreamed about a life as a ninja, Jiraiya's story had granted her an escape from the mundane. Something warm bumped her leg and she looked down to find Ookami rubbing his muzzle against her bandages.

"Hey, fur-baby," she murmured to the tomcat and patted her lap invitingly. He leapt onto her thighs, turned once, and curled up with a content sigh. Erisu leaned down to kiss him between his battered ear, his fur soft on her lips.

"Yo, Risu-chan," Kakashi called from the shadow beyond the orange lamplight.

"Good evening, Kakashi-sensei," she replied without looking up. He dropped down beside her, elbow propped on the backrest and knees apart in a picture of leisure.

"What are you up to?" He asked politely, clearly keen to put their quarrel behind them. It wasn't as easy to forget for Erisu, being as it was the first time they'd really argued. Him knowing about her stepfather was torturous, simply looking at him making blood spurt and bones splinter as her heart throbbed with shame.

"Enjoying the silence of the night," she answered monotonously, eyes on Ookami.

"Mind if I disrupt the quiet for a moment?"

She looked up, but his emotions were bound under lock and key. "I'll allow it," she said with a weak smile.

Kakashi's voice was low and somber. "I'm sorry for upsetting you," he said, "I'm not going to try and force you into anything anymore." He extended his long fingers to stroke the tomcat on her lap. "The last thing I want is for you to resent me."

"Thank you," she murmured, surprised. She considered him, trying to discern what he was thinking but he was sitting to her right, entire face shrouded from view. She was about to ask him if Team Ebisu had been deployed when he spoke.

"Why are you afraid of sloths?"

"How can you possibly know about that?" She asked, bewildered. "No one knows that."

He turned his face to her, eye smiling. "A man must maintain some of his mysteries." He cocked his head. "But seriously, what's so scary about sloths?"

"I don't know. They're impassive and slow, always smiling with those wide mouths and tiny little eyes. They seem untrustworthy, and those long arms and huge claws..." Erisu shuddered involuntarily. "I'm not afraid of them per se; it's a _phobia_ , quite different you know."

His shoulders shook with silent laughter and even Erisu had to smile. The chill between them thawed as they pet Ookami together. Erisu appreciated the lighthearted topic. She'd had enough of talk of death, war, and complicated family issues to last her a lifetime.

"What's the story behind this fellow?" He wondered. "He's a fierce looking cat but I've never met one more affectionate."

"I don't think he's aware he's a cat," Erisu told him as a bat fluttered past, causing Ookami to chitter and trill. "His mother and littermates died while he was still very small. I fed him a mixture of goat milk and egg yolk with an eye dropper and groomed him with a damp facecloth." She smiled, massaging Ookami's big white paw in her fingers. "He was my baby," she said fondly, "still, the lack of a feline role model caused him to be rubbish at simple cat skills such as personal hygiene and meowing."

"He couldn't meow?"

"No." Erisu grinned. "He would howl like a soprano wolf cub, hence the name."

Kakashi chuckled, scratching the cat behind his ears. "How old is he?"

Erisu's smile fell. "He's six."

"So that means..?" Kakashi's gaze was heavy.

"Yeah, I had him while living with Aya." She pushed her face into his warm fur and breathed in his soothing scent. "Aya did away with Ookami's sisters after their mother died thirteen days after kitting."

"Hard woman to love," Kakashi commented darkly, "what did you do?"

Erisu shook her head, unable to speak of it. The pain was still fresh after all this time. The pitiful mewling of the kittens as her mother had put all three of them into a burlap sack. Three perfect kittens that were only a week old, the deep blue/grey Amaya with paws that looked like they were touched with dew, Gina, the silvery spotted tabby whose blue eyes had been the first to open, and Hoshi, the fluffy chocolate and white Siamese whose points had barely appeared in her milky fluff and her bottlebrush tail. Hoshi had looked the most like their mother. So pale and soft, Taiyouta was the most beautiful chocolate point Siamese Erisu had ever seen. She'd hemorrhaged during birth and hadn't made it two weeks after the delivery. Erisu's mother wouldn't take the cat to the vet and the girl's amateur medical ninjutsu could only do so much... It was a miracle that Aya hadn't been present for the birth to count the litter.

' _They'll just starve without their mother,' Aya had told her, face emotionless, 'this is mercy.'_

 _'This is murder!' Erisu had screamed. Her mother had tossed the bag, weighed down with bricks into the river. Erisu helpless on the bridge as the bag vanished into the black current full of sleet and lumps of ice._

Erisu kept her face averted from Kakashi, tears pooling in her eyes at the memory. It was one thing to humanely urbanize an incurably sick or grievously injured animal, but another thing entirely to drown innocent kittens who were completely defenceless.

 _Erisu had screamed and fought violently against the horrible grasp of Rokorou's massive hands as she tried to save them. Tears had coursed her cheeks, bloody with the kittens terror as they were dragged into the icy depths. Erisu had bit him with all the ferocity of a wild cat, her teeth sinking deep and drawing blood. The pain had been enough to weaken his grasp and she'd torn away to leap from the bridge and into the river. She'd had them, had the sack in her fingers when she'd been slammed into a glacier by the rapids and nearly knocked unconscious. The undertow had sucked her under and she would've drowned had Yusha not dragged her ashore. She was saved but the kittens were lost..._

"They were drowned," Erisu whispered, but that was all she could imagine.

"Is that why you're scared of water?" He asked gently.

Erisu nodded. "I'd been housing the kittens in my dresser drawer to keep them safe, feeding them my homemade formula," Erisu blinked back tears that felt like droplets of lava in her eyes. "When Aya came for them she didn't see Ookami because his fur blended in with my clothing. All my clothes are black, you see.

"I kept him hidden..." She remembered when Yusha had been given his task and left. After he was gone there was nothing between her and her vile stepfather, no witnesses old enough or wise enough to speak up. "He was my only friend for so long. And after the curse was enacted, after I'd learned to walk again, I left. I took Ookami with me, hidden in my parka." Erisu paused to breathe. "He's followed me faithfully ever since. As far as he knows, I am his mother."

"And you're still protecting her?" Kakashi asked in a soft voice. "After everything she's done?"

"It's not _her_ I'm protecting," Erisu replied, daring to lift her eyes to his. "It's much bigger than that, and much worse..."

"Tell me how and we can put an end to it," Kakashi said, as his hand found hers. "We can stop her together, I just need you to show me how."

Erisu stared at him and a sliver of hope snuck across her thoughts like a gap of sunlight beneath a door. Maybe it was possible, possible to free them, to put an end to it all at last... "I don't know where she is." The fact was a thorn in her heart. "I've been out of contact with all of them since the day I left." She should tell him everything, no more lies, no more secrets. "I sent a letter to Rūka and Emi while I was living with the monks but it was returned to sender with a notice that their address was uninhabited."

"But where were they when you left?" He pressed. "They couldn't have gone far, could they?"

"North..." She began hesitantly; old habits die hard.

"Erisu," he warned, but not unkindly.

"I'm sorry..." She struggled to shape the words, hands shaking with fear, fear of Rokurou and Aya and The Body...

He pulled her trembling hand to his masked face and kissed between her knuckles through the fabric. Her heart swelled at the touch. His other hand glided over her cheek, wiping away the tears. Clasping the back of her neck ever so tenderly, Kakashi inclined her head towards him and pressed his forehead against hers. The forehead protector was cold and soothing against the emotional headache that was threatening to split her skull.

"Konohagakure failed you." His voice was a hushed and angry. "The fact that he was released and that Aya's cruelty went unnoticed sickens me...I won't let Konoha remain in such a mess that it leaves children suffering in silence. So many children have been neglected and abandoned by the system that's sworn to protect them."

"The shinobi military police did intervene," she told him, "they couldn't get enough evidence on him because I wasn't available to testify against him. If it's anyone's fault-"

" _It's Rokurou's,_ " he interrupted fiercely, tilting her head back to meet his eye. "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're to blame, Erisu, because you could never deserve that. No child deserves that." His eye was black as coal in the low light. "Do you understand me? You have nothing to be ashamed of. _He_ was in the wrong, not you."

Ookami eyed them and jumped off her lap as Erisu stared into his fervent eye. Her lower lip quivered and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to contain the new attack of tears behind her lashes. She hadn't realized how much she needed to hear that. It was like absolution. For so long she'd felt guilty and soiled, certain that she must've done something to evoke what happened. Quite suddenly, she wasn't ashamed,was no longer dirty. When she opened her eyes again they were clear. Kakashi was bold and defined against the dark mist beyond them, pale hair wreathed in gold lamplight. The fog around them was thick and warm, like the steam of a hot spring, and above the shadows of bats flashed about.

Erisu smiled, a lonely and wistful thing, then reached up slowly and removed his mask. Kakashi didn't stop her, simply continuing to gaze at her steadily. He was ingenious and incisive, seemingly intangible in his elusive and enigmatic ways, yet he had indisputably chosen her. How was it possible? This man who'd already given her so much, genuinely cared for her, believed in her... Kakashi actually wanted her. When he looked at her she became a queen, something beautiful, powerful, and worthy of respect. For the first time in her life she felt truly valuable. She'd wasted so much time pushing him away, denying and deceiving herself. She'd been so afraid of loss that she'd forgotten how to live.

Kakashi's brows knitted curiously as Erisu's fingers brushed his cheekbone, his jaw... He could see the change in her eyes, the realization that'd dawned there. She mapped his face, tracing his lips, memorizing the texture. The scent of fire still lingered in his hair alongside the faint traces of rose water from the baths. His pulse was visible in his throat and his hand twitched as she felt his racing heart and the flow of blood in his neck with her fingertips. Tilting her head to the side she smiled again, bittersweet. She was loved.

"Erisu..." He whispered, catching the small of her back.

She placed a finger on his mouth and said, voice scarcely more than a breath, "... _Suki desu_." Then she pressed her mouth to his before he could reply.

All her longing suddenly escaped its cage as their lips met and Erisu finally let herself feel. She hadn't realized how deeply she'd desired him, just how much she'd yearned for his touch, but now it ruled her. It was a hunger that burned in her veins. She'd never wanted anything so badly before. Kakashi reacted instantly, kissing her back with all his own suppressed passion. His desire was a flavour as he parted her lips with his, breath hot in her mouth. He grasped her hips and pulled her straight into his lap, her knees on the bench to either side of him. Tugging her hard against him, Kakashi seemed intent on devouring her whole. His every muscle was tensed, his heart hammering against her chest as she leaned in, drowning in him.

She was being pulled underwater again, dragged into pleasure and ecstasy where Kakashi was the only source of oxygen. She breathed him in. His tongue tangled with hers, fingers slipping under the hem of her kimono and over the bandages. His thumb caressed her sharp hipbone, gliding along the crease between thigh and pelvis. He gripped her tight, grasping at the femoral joint where the curse started, and eased her forward slowly then back again. Erisu's body responded without her having to think. She swivelled her hips slowly, rotating in his lap as his mouth worked violently against hers. She inhaled deeply through her nose, releasing the air as a murmur into his mouth as her rocked her roughly against him. His lips curled into a smile as he kissed her, teeth catching the lower lip and nipping tenderly. One hand in her hair at the back of her neck and the other still at her hip, his fingers loosened their grip and caressed her. Over her shoulder blades and along her spine with one hand while the other slid back down her thigh, hooking his fingers behind her knee to tug her even closer yet.

Erisu's fingers were exploring him with curiosity. She wanted to know everything, arms sneaking into his flack jacket and tracing the lithe muscles beneath. Her hands spread over his chest, the curve of his ribs, the smooth plain of his abdomen, hungry to touch every inch of him. Cheeks reddening and heart racing, Erisu almost yelped as Kakashi forced her hips down on his hardness beneath, rubbing her against him.

 _Botsu_ -a cloud of smoke plumed around them.

"Senpai!" Yamato had appeared. Kakashi and Erisu broke apart with haste, Erisu leaping off of Kakashi. She staggered backwards rapidly as Kakashi, eye round, pulled up his mask.

Yamato was frozen as he took them in, his face red and his eyes like saucers. "...e-eto..." He looked from one to the other. "...am I interrupting something..?"

Kakashi cleared his throat, standing quickly and trying to look cool. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, hand in his electric hair.

Yamato was staring at Erisu who was blushing profusely and she smoothing her kimono. She forced a polite smile which looked more like a grimace.

"Er-right..." Yamato turned back to the other man. "Gai-san said you were around here, Senpai," he explained.

"I bet he did."

"I was just coming to report that Team Ebisu has reached their destination. There was a bird letting the Godaime know about a half hour ago."

Kakashi nodded professionally. "Thank you, Tenz-Yamato. Is that all?"

"I also wanted to discuss your plans for Naruto. Tsunade-sama doesn't want him to use the Rasenshuriken anymore..."

"Yes. She told me as much," Kakashi said curtly, "let me think about a new training regimen overnight and I'll fill you in on it tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

"Was there anything else?"

"No, sir." Yamato glanced back over at Erisu. He was positively radiating embarrassment. "Good evening, Erisu-san," he said awkwardly.

Erisu bowed to hide her face. "Yamato-senpai," she answered in a small voice.

"Well...I'll just..." Yamato cleared his throat loudly. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Senpai."

Kakashi dipped his head in acknowledgement. Yamato saluted him and was gone with another burst of milky smoke. Kakashi sighed, shaking his head. Erisu looked up at him furtively and grinned. He cast her a look of playful admonition and tousled her hair.

"Come on," he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'll walk you home."


	37. Chapter 35: His Sister's Keeper

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE**

 ** _His Sister's Keeper_**

~Kakashi~

"Hey! Mr. Hero!" Kakashi turned to see Team Yuma approaching, Kiyomi in the lead, and reluctantly closed his book.

"Good morning," he greeted them.

"Looks like it might rain, eh?" Sota commented pleasantly as the group came up alongside the senior shinobi. The sky had been a stubborn grey since dawn and there was a closeness in the air, static on the skin, that hinted at a thunder storm.

"It might do," Kakashi agreed.

"Do you know where Erisu-chan is?" Kiyomi asked. "We wanted to invite her to dinner to celebrate her being released from the hospital."

"A premature celebration, don't you think?" Kakashi said darkly, annoyed by everyone's compliance to her nearing demise.

"I'd throw a party just for getting out of bed in the morning," Sota said with a yawn. Kakashi believed that.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head idly. "I haven't seen her today, but she's probably at home or in the willow tree in the third training ground."

"She's not training is she?" Yuma was sharp.

"I don't think she's quite that reckless," Kakashi replied, "more likely she's reading or doting on her cats." He wondered privately what she had in mind for her furry companions once she wasn't around to care for them. The mere thought of it made his innards fill with ice. Around them early morning shoppers were milling about in the market streets. Fresh produce displays perfumed the village with the sweet smell of late summer fruit and a low babble of heralding and bartering gradually increased as the streets filled. Kakashi let his eye wander over the crowds, his mind far from the market, back in the mist and the dark with Erisu.

"I heard you fought Kakazu the bounty hunter," Sota said and Kakashi was yanked back to the day-lit street.

"Yes," he replied, not interested in reliving the fight for Team Yuma's entertainment. "What of you? Have you been assigned your fourth member yet? Yuma-san looks mended enough to resume his missions."

The Hyūga looked at him scathingly. "Danzō is apparently keen to recommend a replacement," he told him stiffly, "but it hasn't been formalized yet."

"Is he now?" Kakashi narrowed his eye and the two men shared an understanding of foreboding. The Roots were weaselling themselves into more teams than his own, it appeared.

"There's a rumour going around," Kiyomi began randomly, drawing Yuma and Kakashi's attentions. "Word is you're seeing someone, Raiketsu-Kakashi."

"Oh yes," Sota agreed, "I heard that as well." Three sets of eyes fixed on him expectantly. He stifled a sigh.

"You're bound to hear rumours if you have working ears." He waved a hand dismissively and flipped his book back open. "...Erisu's probably still at home," he hinted, "she's not much of a morning person."

"I'm glad you brought up Erisu-chan," Kiyomi said, "if you really are seeing someone then I should kick your ass!"

He looked up with boredom. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Her dark red eyes flashed maliciously. "You lead her on," she accused, "treating her to meals, buying her presents, taking her out for picnics-"

"What?" Yuma demanded.

"-I warned you not to hurt her and if you're fucking around with some hoe while you could have someone like Erisu-"

"Kiyomi," Sota interrupted her before Kakashi could. "Back off." She stared at her teammate in absolute astonishment. It was clear he'd never told her what to do before.

"Erisu-san knows how to take care of herself," he told the dark haired woman, "and I don't think Kakashi-senpai would intentionally hurt her."

Kakashi regarded Sota analytically. _This is the young man Erisu had comforted while I was hospitalized_ , he recalled, _she trusts him and it would seem that he trusts her as well._ He considered the group for a moment. If it wasn't for Yuma, Erisu might've made a good member of the team. If she lived that long.

"C'mon." Sota grabbed Kiyomi's hand. "Let's go see if Erisu-san wants to come to dinner." The fierce woman relented and he started leading her away. "Thanks, Senpai!" Sota called as they headed towards the library. Yuma lingered behind.

"Is it true?" He asked, voice difficult to read.

"Hm?" Kakashi glanced up, as if he'd only noticed him. "What's true?"

"Don't fuck with me," he snapped, "are you and Erisu-chan involved?"

Kakashi blinked. "Define involved."

"You know what I mean!" Yuma barked, "don't be a smart-ass!"

He was about to quip a retort when he saw Sakura wrestling her way through the throngs of people towards them.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She called as she neared, "Tsunade-shishou wants you to report to her tower."

"Thank you, Sakura," he responded. _At last_. Ignoring Yuma entirely, Kakashi followed his former student towards Hokage Rock.

Kakashi knocked once and was immediately admitted into the Hokage's office tower. Inoichi and Team Ebisu were assembled near Tsunade's desk. Sakura had left him in the entrance hall and he'd continued up to the round domed office that sat like a lighthouse over the village alone. Shizune closed the door behind Kakashi as he entered, suspense churning in his gut.

"Godaime-sama," he greeted the Hokage stiffly, he bowed curtly to the others in turn. "Has Hakuchō Yusha been located then?"

"He's at Headquarters," Inoichi answered, his face cold and still as marble.

"...and Erisu?" Kakashi prompted.

"She hasn't been informed yet, we wanted to brief you first." Tsunade looked more stressed than ever. "As you know, Yusha-san was going under the name Yamanaka and was soaking up the esteem that comes with the Clan. He seems to have a knack for genjutsu like his sister and, while he hasn't exhibited the Hakuchō's empathic abilities, he appears to have inherited the Yamanaka Mind Transfer. He caused Team Ebisu a lot of trouble when he possessed Udon-san."

Udon silently wiped his nose, drowsy eyes downcast while Inoichi's jaw worked. Ebisu pushed up his shades, his students speechless and slightly battered beside him. Kakashi urged her to continue with a dip of his head.

"Ebisu-sensei.." Tsunade turned to the tutor. "Would you describe the mission for him as you did for me?"

Ebisu adjusted his glasses again and nodded to the Hokage. "He wasn't as easy to capture as we thought he'd be," Gai's old teammate began, "he detected us tracking him very early on and lead us on a wild goose chase-"

"He's a total bastard!" Konohamaru said loudly, "really conniving and sly! The jerk had us running all around town chasing his stupid illusions."

"And he was very strategic," Udon added with a sniff, "he predicted our every move and stayed one step ahead of us."

"And he was really charismatic and charming," Moegi chipped in. Konohamaru glowered at her and muttered something that sounded like 'who's the pervert now?'

"-we did of course outwit him in the end," Ebisu said, ignoring the interruption, "he isn't even Chūnin rank after all. We caught him in a rather simplistic wire trap and sedated him promptly. The trip back with him was uneventful."

"But he was heavy," Konohamaru complained, "and he smelled nasty! He smokes just like Asumi-oujisan-" Konohamaru cut himself off, having turned rather pale, and fumbled with his scarf.

"So it seems Erisu wasn't the only one continuing her training on her own," Kakashi said thoughtfully, "has Yusha-san said anything yet?"

"He was still unconscious last I checked," Inoichi replied, "there are medical-nin seeing to his injuries as we speak."

"Injuries?" Kakashi queried.

"I tried out a new jutsu that Naruto-niisan taught me," Konohamaru said proudly, "it worked like a charm." Kakashi nearly asked if he'd used sexy jutsu but caught himself. Now wasn't the time for quips.

"How soon will he be interrogated?" Kakashi asked instead, "when should I inform Erisu of her brother's capture?"

"Good questions," Tsunade responded, then turned to the Head Interrogator, "Inoichi?"

"Well, seeing as he was arrested under less serious charges we have him for ten days unless we get an extension-"

"Extension granted," Tsunade said.

"Thank you, Godaime-sama." Inoichi dipped his head respectfully. "So twenty days in which we can interrogate him on my sister's location and compile a case to present to the Daimyo."

"That should be plenty of time, shouldn't it?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "He is only a civilian, he should break quickly."

"Forgive me, but I'm not so sure," Inoichi said, "he may not be an official shinobi but we shouldn't underestimate him. Yusha-kun is ninja trained and has always been rather strong willed, showing animosity towards authority figures. But, on top of that, his heritage has given him an even stronger mind than typical shinobi. My telepathic interrogations may not be enough to penetrate his mind."

"Perhaps Morino Ibiki could get more out of him?" Ebisu suggested.

"Yusha-kun is just a boy," Inoichi protested.

"A twenty-three year old boy who's been living outside the law for the past several years and assaulted the collection team," Ebisu pointed out, "as I understand it, Erisu-san only has a few months left to live. If you go easy on him you'll be wasting time that should be spent searching for this Aya woman. We must consider that finding and capturing Aya and then reversing the ritual to break the curse will also require time. Something we are very short on."

"He speaks the truth, Inoichi." Tsunade shook her head wearily. "You've been awfully quiet, Kakashi, what's your stance on this?"

"Ebisu-sensei is right in that we're short on time, but I don't think torture is the answer," Kakashi said carefully, "at this point we're not clear on the extent of his involvement. We don't even know if he was present when the curse was enacted. I recommend we question him first, he may be forthcoming. If not we can decide our next move accordingly."

"Yes." Inoichi nodded. "I agree."

"It's settled then." The Hokage turned her all-seeing eyes to her assistant. "Shizune, would you accompany Iniochi during the interrogation? I'd like one of my medical ninjas present."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'd like to be there as well," Kakashi said, "I want to hear what Yusha-san has to say first hand."

"Is that okay with you?" The Fifth asked the interrogator.

"That's fine Godaime-sama," Inoichi replied. He glanced at Kakashi. "It would be a good idea to have plenty of backup in the room."

 _Is he really that dangerous?_ Kakashi wondered privately.

"Alright, you three are dismissed," Tsunade said, adding to Ebisu, "let's discuss your payment."

Kakashi lead the way into the hall, Inoichi close behind. Shizune slid the door shut and the three headed down the corridor abreast.

"Is there anything else we should know about Yusha before we meet him?" Kakashi asked the other man.

"Not really," Inoichi's voice was calm but he looked troubled. "He's arrogant, manipulative, and too clever for his own good."

Kakashi rubbed his masked face and stifled a sigh. If he was still sane by the end of this ordeal it would be a blessing. They travelled down into the dungeons beneath Hokage Rock to the Torture and Interrogation Force Headquarters, where the polished wooden floors gave way to cobbled stairs and the handsome panelled walls became cold stone. Long lights flickered in the vaulted ceiling above as if they were about to be plunged into darkness and the three shinobi headed into the bowels of the mountain. Rusted doors flanked them along the way and screams and pleads for mercy were muffled by the merciless metal. If those walls could talk the horrors they'd witnessed in the dank cells would bring even the fiercest shinobi to their knees.

They halted outside a holding cell as Shizune prepped her medkit. Inoichi knocked, the bangs echoing through the corridors and resounding off the stone. A guard in a long black interrogator cloak slid back the heavy iron door. The three shinobi stepped soundlessly inside.

It was a square, windowless box of concrete and flagstones with a smooth metal table in the centre. Lounging in the chair across from them with his feet on the table was a devilishly handsome young man with a ponytail of spun gold that hung to his hips. Slender and graceful, he looked like a dancer with the same limber frame he shared with his sister. He was dressed in a fine silk haori precisely the same shade of green as his eyes and a breezy linen blouse that was undone to show his smooth, tanned chest.

His glowing, freckled skin was bruised here and there from his capture but he looked mostly unharmed. Slightly rugged looking, with a reddish-gold shadow framing his narrow jaw and a dusty traveller's hue to his clothes, he somehow still managed to be rather pretty in appearance, with thick lashed doe eyes, high cheekbones and a charming smirk. Against the drab stone behind him he seemed to glow with colour and personality, exceptionally out of place.

He fixed a pair of silvery, sage green eyes on Inoichi and his fine features became closed and disdainful.

"Decided to grace me with your presence, Ojisan?" He slid his eyes over Kakashi and Shizune with cold analysis. "And you brought friends." His voice was mellow and almost sing-song.

"Hello, Yusha-kun," Inoichi said, "this is the Hokage's assistant Shizune-san, and-"

"Kakashi of the Sharingan," Yusha finished for him, "quite the entourage. And this room! Cozy isn't it? It could use some accent pillows or a throw rug though."

"Well, I'm glad to know you're comfortable," Inoichi said dryly.

"I am, Ojisan, thank you." Yusha ran his fingers through his jaw length bangs, his shackles clanging against the table. "The service here is terrible though, I asked for a cup of tea, you'd think I was asking to bed the Godaime the way they reacted!"

"Kakashi-san, Shizune-san, my nephew..." Inoichi waved towards the pretentious young man. "...Hakuchō Yusha."

"A pleasure I'm sure," Yusha said with thinly concealed spite, scanning them all with a mocking smile pulling at his lips. "I didn't think I'd need a full interrogation squad just for a minor offence. If this is about the fountain, in my defence the bathhouse was closed that day and-"

"You've been brought here to disclose the location of your mother," Kakashi said frankly, "we're looking for Hakuchō Aya."

"I think you mean _Akaiuma_ Aya," Yusha corrected with another smirk, "everyone seems to forget she's married."

"No one's forgotten, Yusha-kun." Iniochi seated himself in one of the metal chairs. "Where's Aya?"

Yusha scoffed and scratched his stubbly chin. "I don't know."

"Do you want me to do a mind transfer?" Inoichi threatened.

"You won't," Yusha said, unconcerned, "if you thought you could succeed in getting the information from my head you would've done it already. Don't insult my intelligence."

Kakashi narrowed his eye and sat down beside his colleague, Shizune lowering herself silently on his other side.

Yusha cocked his head and grinned at them, his teeth surprisingly sharp. "You look very threatening," he observed in amusement, "three dangerous Jōnin here to drag the truth out of me!" He leaned forward, placing his shackled hands on the table, beaded bracelets on his narrow wrists and rings glinting on every finger. "So where is she?"

"Where's who?" Shizune asked.

"My sweet little sister." Yusha tossed his ponytail over his shoulder, still smiling. "She must've come running to the Hokage, playing her victim card and begging for justice. Am I right?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed further, a slit of dislike, but said nothing. Yusha looked from each of them then tilted his head back and laughed aloud. A strange, jingling laugh that was almost manic.

"Oh cmon," he chortled, "you don't actually believe her story do you?" His voice changed to an eerily accurate, falsetto impression of Erisu, "oh Tsunade-hime, I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid I've been cursed. Omigosh, 'tis so scary! 'Tis so unfair! Whatever shall I do?" He laughed again as Inoichi's face hardened.

"What do you think happened then?" Inoichi asked impassively.

Yusha wiped his eye with a dramatic flourish. "Only what she deserved," he said, "can I have a smoke? I'm getting antsy."

"Smoking will have to wait," Inoichi's voice was mellow but his eyes were steel. "What have you been up to these past few years?"

Yusha shook his head, grin widening further. "You're gunna try the buddy-buddy technique? Trying to play on our uncle/nephew connection?" He scoffed. "I know the game. You'll try to find common ground, make me trust you. I'll think we're friends and open up. You'll slip in a question while my guard's down." He shook his head, smile etched into his face as though it'd been carved there. "Save me the run around, Ojisan, it's not gonna work on me. I know all your tricks old man and I know my rights."

"What did Risu-chan deserve?" Kakashi asked, knowing how to trigger him. The change was instant. Yusha's smile vanished as he sized Kakashi up with icy contempt.

"Know my sis well, do you?" He asked sharply, "what's the deal? Are you sleeping with her?"

"Yusha!" Inoichi warned but Kakashi waved him off.

"Would that bother you if it were the case?" Kakashi asked Yusha placidly.

"Damn straight it would," he sneered, "but that's typical Erisu, fawning over the mysterious elite. First Itachi and now you, right?"

"Was your sister involved with Uchiha Itachi?" Kakashi had the feeling the boy liked to work his mouth and was going to use that to his advantage.

"Itachi wouldn't have stooped so low," Yusha's grin was back but it was bitter and cruel now, "a high and mighty Uchiha and the bastard daughter of a whore?"

"Watch your mouth!" Inoichi wasn't one to get worked up during an interrogation. This case was too close to him.

"Well you seem very protective of Risu-chan," Kakashi said, ignoring Yusha's crude language, "you must've been furious when Rokurou's perversion came to light."

Yusha reclined and licked his lips, contemplating. "So that's what this is about? I thought you wanted my mother. No one's bothered with Rokurou in nearly a decade."

"We're just trying to get a grasp of the situation," Kakashi said cooly, "what was it like? Learning your stepfather was making advances on your 'sweet little sister'?" Did you see the abuse? Did you confront him? Or did you stand idly by while she suffered?"

"Shut the fuck up." His voice was low, a growl. "You haven't the faintest clue what it was like."

"Enlighten me then." Kakashi held his gaze unwaveringly. "Were you angry? You must've been. You were the man of the house before Rokurou came along. What was it like having to take orders from him all of a sudden?"

"I don't take orders from anyone," Yusha spat.

"No?" Kakashi tilted his head, picking the boy apart with his eye. "I think you did. I think you hopped at his every command, bowing and scraping, so desperate to have a father."

"My father is dead," Yusha said flatly.

"Losing a father isn't easy," Kakashi went on, "a boy needs a man to look up to, a man to aspire to be. My father died when I was quite small but I had my sensei to fill the void. Is that what Rokurou was for you? Something to fill the hole where a father should be?"

"I'm not playing your game, asshole," Yusha said, lip curling, "I won't say anything to betray them."

"Loyalty is admirable." Kakashi knew no mercy. "Your sister's loyal too. Risu-chan tried to keep the curse a secret to protect your family. She's dying, Yusha, you realize that don't you? Your only full blood sibling is wasting away, refusing to say a word against you or your mother." Kakashi tugged up his headband and let Yusha gaze into the blood red Sharingan, as he picked apart every flexing muscle and every dart of the boy's eyes. "What'd you do to deserve such devotion? She seems to think she should defend you, although she knows you don't care if she dies. It astounds me to see how much you care. What brotherly love, content to do nothing while his sister wastes away."

"I care," Yusha snapped before he could stop himself.

"Do you really?" Kakashi pinned him with the Sharingan. "Then why are you just sitting here, sullen and silent? Either you couldn't care less if your sister dies or you're too much of a coward to do anything about it."

"I'm not a coward!" Yusha's eyes were green fire. "I'm a loyal son! I'll never betray my mother! Erisu's the weak one. She's the one that ran away!"

"But you ran away too, didn't you? You were making a living as a petty criminal rather than serving at your mother's side."

"I'm an entertainer and an evangelist." He was trembling with anger, his pretty face reddening. "I spread The Faith through song, uplifting the fallen and converting the broken. I'm a saviour!"

"Oh really?" Kakashi leaned forward. "Convert me then."

Yusha was taken aback. "Y-you?" He recovered himself quickly. "Anyone is welcome in Paradise if they give their soul to Izanagi-sama."

"The god of creation?" Kakashi raised his brow. "I don't think I've ever read any doctrine where he asks for one's soul."

"Then you're as uncultured as you are stupid," Yusha said with untempered malice. He turned back to Inoichi. "Have you got a smoke? I'm having a nic-fit."

"Why don't you tell us more about this faith of yours?" Inoichi suggested.

"And you'll what? Reward me with a cigarette like a kid gets a lollipop from a doctor?" Yusha snorted. "It may have escaped your notice, Ojisan, but I'm not a child anymore."

"Oh I noticed," Inoichi's voice was colder than the stagnant air of the dungeons, "and you'll be treated as such when you face the Daimyo for your crimes."

Yusha hissed and waved his uncle away. "What crimes? Sure I've sold some questionable substances and got in a couple bar fights, but I mean, who doesn't?"

"Your drug dealing and assault charges are not why you're here," Inoichi reminded him, "this is about the killing curse placed on your sister. You are being charged with aiding and abetting premeditated murder and torture of a heinous kind."

"Woah, woah!" Yusha raised his hands placatingly. "I don't know anything about torture or murder."

"You said Erisu-san got what she deserved," Shizune spoke up, "are you denying that now?"

"Mother told me about the curse but I wasn't there," Yusha said, distress in his voice now, "I thought Kakashi-san was being mellow dramatic when he said she was dying."

"Let's back up," Kakashi advised, "when did you leave your mother's household?"

"Shit..." Yusha thought for a moment. "Five-no-six years ago? I've visited a bit but it's a long journey to..." He narrowed his eyes. "Assholes."

"Where is she Yusha?" Inoichi asked, "give us Aya and Rokurou and we can make a deal to lessen your punishment. Maybe clear you of your assault and battery charges?"

Yusha, regarded them, mulling things over. At last he said, "I don't know where she is."

" _You're lying!_ " Inoichi slammed his fist down on the table, making Shizune jump. Yusha was unfazed.

"You know, I've got this wicked little pill that'll chill you right out," he offered derisively, "I'll sell it to you cheap, you being family and all. One hundred yen for a pack of five?"

"Inoichi-san..." Shizune began softly but the Yamanaka didn't seem to hear her, his dark turquoise eyes fixed on his nephew.

"What happened to you, Yusha-kun?" Inoichi asked quietly, his eyes burning with silent fury.

"I think it's called life?" Yusha shrugged. "Shit happens and you've gotta roll with it." He leaned forwards, chains clinking noisily. "Now where is my sister?" He asked Inoichi, "it's been a while since I've seen her, I bet she's desperate to visit. Has she been asking for me?"

"Risu doesn't know you're here," Kakashi answered and was satisfied to see a flicker of unease on the boy's face. "Only a small group of specialized jōnin picked out by Tsunade-sama herself are aware you're in this cell at all."

"Ojisan," Yusha pointedly turned his face from Kakashi, " _where's Erisu?_ "

"In the hospital." His voice betrayed no hint as to her condition. He'd caught onto Kakashi's tactic.

"Might I divert your attention to Shizune-san here?" Kakashi gestured lazily towards the dark haired woman. Yusha reluctantly looked over at her. "Not only is she Tsunade-sama's assistant but also her first student. As Tsunade's first apprentice, Shizune is a very capable jōnin and a highly talented medical-nin.

"But what I think is most interesting is her prowess with poison and her ability to imbue nearly any weapon with toxins, directly into the metal of a kunai." Kakashi could see the slightest hint of perspiration on Yusha's high forehead. "Being a medical-nin Shizune-san has extensive knowledge of the human body and knows precisely where to place her poisoned senbun to get the best effects..."

"She's not a torturer," Yusha objected hotly, "she's a healer, and a woman. She wouldn't hurt me!"

"Oh really?" Kakashi tracked every twitch in Yusha's face every palpation of chakra with his copy wheel eye. "Want to test that theory?"

"You can't scare me!" Yusha exploded suddenly, face purpling as his features contorted grotesquely. "I'm the first born son of the Prophetess Aya and future head of The Body of Izanagi! Don't evoke the wrath of a god!"

"You're a god now?" Kakashi asked in sarcastic surprise, "my apologies. Maybe Morino Ibiki would like to pay his respects to our visiting deity?"

"Morino Ibiki?" Yusha echoed incredulously, "you wouldn't! I didn't do anything!"

Kakashi turned to Inoichi and the other man nodded. The three jōnin stood together and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?!" Yusha demanded. "What are you doing?! _I didn't do anything, dammit!_ I have rights!"

The door slammed shut, cutting off Yusha's shouts and curses. They headed up the corridor a little ways, out of the boy's earshot.

"Well?" Shizune prompted, "how long do we leave him to worry?"

"Hmm..." Kakashi scratched his jaw. "How about a nice round hour? That should have him nice and distressed, he might be more open to delay a visit from Ibiki after he's spent some time expecting one."

"He'll be so relieved it's us when we return he might spill everything right then," Shizune said with satisfaction.

"Don't underestimate him," Inoichi warned, "Yusha's as good at mind games as any of us are. He could be acting."

Kakashi thought of Erisu's facade on the Kappa Bridge and nodded. "Seems like a family trait."

"Us Yamanaka are known for our keen minds," Inoichi agreed, "you should see my Ino act."

"Well, I say we let him brood for a while and then have at him again," Kakashi said, stretching his stiff shoulders, "in the meantime I have someone to visit." He started back up the corridor when Inoichi caught his arm. Kakashi turned curiously.

"I don't know your relation to my niece and I know I'm not her father but I'm as good as..." Inoichi held Kakashi's eye solemnly. "...but whatever you two have, you have my blessing for what it's worth."

Kakashi blinked in surprise, then his eye softened into a smile. "It's worth a lot, Inoichi-san, thank you." They shook hands, firm and steady, then the three of them parted ways and Kakashi headed from the dungeons.


	38. Chapter 36: The Archives

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX**

 ** _The Archives_**

~Kakashi~

The archives were vast and empty, the polished jade floors reflecting the tall marble pillars and glossy shelves that stretched deep into the mountainside. He gazed over the rail of the upper landing, scanning the aisles between shelves of dusty times and decrepit scrolls. He spotted her seated at one of the long tables. Erisu was perched on the edge of her chair, draped over a massive book so ancient that the spine was peeling and the pages threatened to come loose as she turned them. She didn't look like a ninja, Kakashi thought as he observed her from the gallery. She was shoeless, both legs bandaged, and wearing that floaty black dress that fit her so perfectly. She was thinner than he'd ever seen her, collar bone jutting out and shoulders sharp and frail. The illness was eating her away.

As he'd planned, Kakashi produced a heavy camera and zoomed in on her, turning the dials into focus. He covered the flash and snapped a series of photos then stowed the camera away in his pouch. Captivated, he leaned against the rail and watched her read. She was enthralling, the way she caressed the dusty pages so lovingly, as though the book was a delicate little animal that was to be handled with care. She was so precious to him, he realized with a despairing ache, she was like the missing gears in his mechanism, what he required to function properly. But now her system was rusting and breaking down from the sickness... A different man might've tossed the damaged cogs aside and moved on to find better pieces but Kakashi wouldn't discard her. He would mend her and make her gleam like new, then together they'd solve any equation the world presented them. He wanted to make her whole again.

Kakashi vaulted the banister and landed soundlessly on the gleaming green floor. Erisu looked up as he silently neared, sensing his approach, and a shy smile flickered across her face. It was sweet yet sad and it made him feel guilty. She was ignorant of her brother's imprisonment. He'd keep it that way if he could, but he wasn't foolish enough to protect her feelings in these hard times.

"Kakashi," she greeted him, and he involuntarily smoothed his hair. There was something intimate about the way she addressed him by his given name alone, no honorific and no surname to distract from who he was to her. He was just Kakashi, not sensei or senpai, no polite san or cute kun. Kakashi.

"Erisu," he said, forcibly emotionless, "I was told I'd find you here."

"You were told right." She started to rise but he stayed her with a wave of his hand.

"How're you feeling?" He asked, determined to keep the tenderness from his voice. Trying to soften the blow would be more cruel than kind. She was far too intelligent to overlook what he intended to do just because of some honied words. Her eyes betrayed an inkling of disquiet, suspicious of his stoic manner. He didn't blame her for her misgivings, especially after the circumstances of their last meeting.

When she spoke, however, her voice was polite and calm. "Well enough, thank you." She faked a smile and his stomach sank. Erisu was misinterpreting his coolness for callousness.

"Erisu," he began again, mentally back-pedalling. He'd planned his dialogue carefully, predicted every possible turn of their conversation. He had to keep it under control, or risk losing her. "Mind if I join you?"

She gestured to the chair beside her, setting down her book. He seated himself and considered her carefully. For a few throbbing heartbeats she'd been his. For a tantalizing moment that'd been gone too soon she'd accepted that he loved her and, maybe, felt the same. He had her attention but her eyes were flat, her emotions in check. He doubted a day would ever come when there wasn't something preventing them from being together. Whether it was sickness, responsibilities, or war, he feared there'd never come a day where he could just lay with her uninterrupted.

"Erisu," he started yet again, "you mentioned 'The Faith' when we spoke about your brother and your curse. What can you tell me about it?" Start with something easier.

"Aya and her following believe that Izanagi-sama is the only true god and that ninjutsu is an affront to what he'd envisioned for humankind," Erisu told him in a mechanical voice as if reciting from a textbook, "shinobi and samurai alike are considered heathen while their order, to which they refer as The Body, are believed to be the only people who will reach the afterlife, 'Paradise'. Their congregation was growing rapidly when I left, with Aya and her husband as the leaders."

"How does the hierarchy work?"

"Aya and her husband are considered The Head-the brain-of Izanagi-sama's physical body. Her husband is the left-side so he governs intellectually, like a judge or philosopher, while Aya represents the right hemisphere, being the adviser of emotional aspects like a high priestess." Erisu rolled her eyes. "This is of course stemming from completely out of date concepts that the halves of the brain work independently. Of course they never put much stock in scientific credibility and shamed my scepticism and logic." She sighed, running her finger over the cracked spine of her book. "They use a hereditary line of succession system for who'll become the next Head if the first was, for one reason or another, unable to lead.

"It's a patriarchal primogeniture, where the firstborn son is heir and all legitimate males are preferable to females. Which is a rather ridiculous system since the proclaimed heir is actually a bastard." She was keeping her eyes down and he could tell how much her mother's madness shamed her. "Yusha, Aya's firstborn bastard son, is next in the line of succession and my younger brother Rūka-kun after him. If Rūka-kun was to die Emi-chan would become The Head. I was disowned and disinherited due to my agnostic approach to life and my determination to preserve a nindo." She smirked then, as if it were all highly amusing. "As if I'd have consented to leading a cult anyways."

"So, if Yusha is the heir why did he leave?" Kakashi was getting a lot of useful information to use in his interrogation.

"He was tasked with recruiting more followers," Erisu said wearily, "to spread the doctrine across the Elemental Nations and convert as many shinobi as possible. Aya intends to make worship of Izanagi-sama a monotheistic religion the dominant belief system in the lands. I doubt she'd make any real headway in that pursuit but she'll harm enough people in the process. Preying on the broken and manipulating the frightened with that silver tongue of hers..." Erisu glared at the indiscernible title on her book.

Kakashi braced himself. "What can you tell me about your brother Yusha-san?"

She looked up at him sharply and her friendliness was locked away as an iron portcullis of distrust lowered behind her eyes. "You have him." She blinked, so closed off, an unfordable moat of betrayal and walls of anger that would never be breached. She was a castle preparing for a siege. He wouldn't insult her by lying.

"He's in the dungeon right now awaiting interrogation," Kakashi said. "He's not very forthcoming, as you predicted."

"Yusha won't break," Erisu told him, "he's too stubborn. You could feed him his eyes and he'd joke about the taste."

Kakashi nodded grimly. "How do I get him to talk?"

"My uncle is more equipped to answer that," she replied, "he's the interrogator. I'm just a medic, if even that anymore."

"But he doesn't know your brother like you do."

She fiddled with her lacy hem of her skirts, her thoughts far from the archives. "Do you have any siblings?"

He shook his head in answer.

"You may be the lucky one then." Her eyes were hollow and hopeless. "Yusha should have been an only child. He was never the brotherly type, doesn't have that sense of sibling devotion that others have." She trailed her fingers up her leg, rumpling back her skirt as she stroked the bandages that hid the Mark. "When I was a child I used to pretend that Itachi-senpai was my brother rather than Yusha. He was always so gentle with Sasuke-san..." She dug her nails into the linen wrappings. "...and even _he_ betrayed his family. Brothers never seem to fail in breaking the hearts of their siblings. Siblings who loved them, idolized them, trusted them..." Blood seeped through the bandages as she buried her fingertips in the cursed flesh. "Yusha betrayed me. I won't do that to my siblings."

Kakashi pulled her hand away from her leg and placed it into his own lap, their fingers entwined on his thigh. He felt so helpless, unable to alleviate her suffering. She looked up at him but the affection that'd been there the night before was long gone, only pain and despair in its place. He wondered what she would be like now if she hadn't been twisted by her family...

"You cling to honour but there isn't any in defending him," he said firmly, "he'll bend to my will eventually but I don't have the luxury of time. He needs to disclose their location now, and no later. Give me something to go on, a pressure point, anything."

"You'd ask me to betray my brother's weaknesses to help your torture and interrogate him?" She withdrew her hand. "You'd ask that of me?"

"Risu..."

"I'm sorry, O-sama, but I stay true to my word," her voice shook slightly, "I made a vow to keep them safe..."

He was O-sama again. A nameless lord whom she respected but didn't love, a sensei and upperclassman to be politely refused and no more. He was losing her and the sudden fear of that sent a spark of derision through him.

"Protect them?" He echoed, "they don't deserve your protection."

"Not _them_ ," Erisu said, voice sharper than raikiri. "I'm protecting Rūka and Emi." A tsunami of understanding crashed over him and his anger dissipated.

"Of course..." He stared at her. "They're still with Aya and Rokurou..."

She flinched. "Please don't say his name, not to me." But he barely heard her.

"That's how she's kept you quiet so long." He felt like an idiot for not putting it together sooner. "She's holding the safety of your siblings over you!"

"Rūka-kun is exactly like I was at that age," Erisu said miserably, "inquisitive and headstrong, never accepting 'no' or 'because' as an answer. He has to question everything, understand everything, just as I did. _This_ is what my curiosity and thirst for knowledge got me." She slammed a fist violently against her leg. "A handicap and an early death. I won't have him suffer the same."

"Risu-chan..." He touched her hair gently, seeing her for who she really was: a protective big sister, willing to sacrifice herself for her siblings.

"I made a vow." She looked up at him at last. Her eyes were orbs of blue fire, cold and clean and ready to die to protect her brother and sister. "I was a foolish little girl with a foolish little promise, but I'll hold to that word nonetheless."

"What vow..?"

"To the boy-" she paused, searching his face. "-to _you_ ," she corrected herself, "the one who saved me from the Kyūbi all those nights ago..." She shifted, placing her hands on his leg, her fingers clutching the fabric of his inner thigh. "'The ninja of Konoha have sworn their lives to the protection of the people, our comrades'," she quoted, "'a true shinobi defends his comrades no matter the cost. I'll protect every one of you with my life'." Her eyes bore into his with the same intensity that he'd first looked at her with. "'Because that's my ninja way'."

Kakashi was stricken mute. He couldn't have predicted that his words to one little girl so many years ago would've shaped the woman that sat before him now. He could never have known that their coincidental meeting and the words he'd spoken in honour of Obito would be the cause of her reluctance to save her own life. Her Will of Fire, her burning desire to protect her loved ones, her decision to die rather than risk their lives, was all due to what he'd said. How could his nindo affect her this way? It'd all come back to touch him again in the never ending circle of Karma. It was some cruel twist of fate that his desire to protect her that night was the reason why he'd lose her now...

"Everything you've done..?"

"Was because of you," she finished, "you were my beginning and, truth be told, you'll be my end too. Dying isn't the scary part." her fingers glided up his leg to his hip, her eyes fierce, unafraid. "The part that I can't bear is leaving you. I love you, truly, but, Kakashi...I'll just end up breaking your heart."

He grasped the back of her neck and tangled his fingers in her hair. " _Let it break_."

And then he was kissing her. He didn't remember removing his mask but his lips were suddenly pressed hard against hers. Her hands fluttered up in surprise, then she melted into him and wrapped her arms around her neck. Kakashi stood, pulling Erisu onto her tiptoes, and twirled her around. He forced her mouth open with his and trailed his tongue along the underside on her lip. Tilting her head back by the hair to kiss her deeper and harder, Kakashi drove her backwards. He thrust her against the bookshelves, one hand lost in her pale hair, the other digging under her skirts. Gripping her thigh firmly, he hoisted her onto his hips and pinned her against the shelf with his pelvis. Books and scrolls cascaded down around them as he pressed himself between her thighs almost violently. Having loved her and lost her would be better than never having her at all, and he was going to have her alright.

Her circled his hips against hers, feeling the shape of her through his trousers. Erisu's mouth broke away from his, gasping with equal surprise and pleasure. He kissed her cheekbone, her jaw, the little hollow behind her ear, then glided his tongue over her throat to her sternum. He kissed the crevasse between the soft swell of her breasts and she wrapped her legs around him, toes running over his spine. Wanting to feel every part of her little glass body, he shouldered out of his flack jacket and discarded it on the jade. He could feel her sharp ribcage against the taut muscles of his pecs, her swollen chest on his collarbone. His mouth was everywhere at once, her skin was softer than silk, sugary and hot with fever. The sickness was palatable through her skin. He wanted to taste her, every inch of her-no he needed to. Holding himself back all this time was suddenly an impossible task and he lost all sense of reason.

His fingers swept over the swell of her hips, the arch of her spine and trailed across the warm naked skin of her stomach. Stroking rougher, lower until he found lace and nylon beneath her bandages. She started to protest, eyes wide and face flushed, but his mouth was on hers again and she grasped him desperately. Her fingers were cool on his shoulder blades as she dug her nails into his bare back beneath his kasuri mail, urging him closer. She was gyrating against him now, consumed by her desire and he ground back so hard that the bookshelf threatened to collapse.

Holding the nape of her neck and her bottom, Kakashi spun her around and slammed her back onto the table. She gasped again from the impact and he pushed himself in between her thighs. Binding her in his arms, he buried his face in the crook of her shoulder and neck, fingers snaking back over her bandages. He found the pin that kept her tensor in place and released it, unwinding her as she simultaneously removed his shirt and mesh armour. He pulled off his headband and tossed it away, focusing on the twisting and tossing of her body with his copy wheel eye. His other hand located the zipper at the seam of her dress and he loosened the constraints, easing down her bodice to reveal her pale breasts and black bra. Her breath ruffled his hair as he bit her neck, gently at first then hard enough to elicit a hushed cry from her. The sound was intoxicating; he bit her again.

The bandages were falling away and Kakashi traced the hem of her lacy panties with his thumb, causing another whispered moan. He slid his fingers beneath the thin fabric and Erisu shifted beneath him in alarm. Her mouth was open slightly in anxious anticipation, and he held her gaze, her eyes pink as she felt everything he did. Maintaining eye contact, he caressed her ever so gently. The touch made her seize and bite her lip so hard she drew blood. He brushed his mouth against hers, tasting the mingled flavours of blood and candy, and slipped his finger into her. Warm and wet, she moved against his hand, her mouth assaulting him with nips and licks that nearly made him lose control.

The world be damned. The Akatsuki and the cult, his prisoner below and the war amassing in the distance were all forgotten, only Erisu remained and she was his. He was going to have her right here on this table, to hell with restraint and propriety.

She caught his lip in her teeth and he groaned softly into her mouth and trembling above her. Her fingers were at the front of his pants, shaking and fumbling with his zipper. He placed his free hand over hers and guided her in undoing his trousers. He pulled back to stare down at her, the front of her dress pulled down and her skirts rumpled around her hips. She was too beautiful for words.

Then he glimpsed a flicker of movement and snapped his attention to the door. No. Not now. Impossible. Kakashi yanked Erisu into a sitting position, hiding her body against his chest as he stared in blank shock at the man observing them.

"Please..." He wiped a trickle of blood from his nose. "Don't stop for little old me."

Erisu yelped at the sound of another voice as Kakashi pulled his undershirt back up to cover his face. Jiraiya was leaning against the door frame, notebook and pen in hand, and grinning broadly. His wild white hair hanging well past his waist and his wrinkled face full of perverted delight.

"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi began with forced calm, "you were spying on us..?"

"Research," the old man corrected, "I'm looking for ideas for the fourth volume in my erotica series."

Kakashi zipped Erisu's dress back up as he tried to digest this. He seemed to have lost the ability of forming a clear thought. Too shocked to feel ashamed, he merely fixed Jiraiya with his mismatched eyes.

"How did you know we were down here?" He asked. "Very few ever visit the archives..." It was starting to sink in just how foolish it'd been to get so carried away in a relatively public place. He'd planned out their conversations but hadn't expected to get so...physical. Erisu had her face hidden in Kakashi's heaving chest, too mortified to look up.

"I was looking for you and someone spotted you heading in here." Jiraiya rubbed his nose again to make sure no more blood has escaped. "...I didn't expect to find you about to do the dirty deed though." His smile stretched wider, a wicked grin. "And with your _student_ of all people! And here I was thinking you'd be a bachelor forever!" He whooped and slapped his leg. "It's too juicy! Perfect content for the next book! Sensei and student affairs are great sellers you know. Real money-makers."

Kakashi discreetly did up his fly. "We weren't..." Weren't what? There was no way to talk out of this one, regardless of how far they'd gotten. There was no excuse. "You..." He cleared his throat. "You were looking for me, Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya's dark eyes were roving over Erisu's back and half un-bandaged legs. Kakashi glowered at him, no one should see her like this but himself. He smoothed her skirts down and drew away gently. Erisu was frozen, still sitting on the table with wide pink eyes. He didn't envy her ability to know what him and the Sannin were feeling right now.

"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi repeated.

"Hm?" Jiraiya looked up from the line of Erisu's spine that was visible above her low backed dress. "What?"

"You said you were looking for me?" Kakashi fastened on his mail and slipped his shirt over his head. "Is there something I need to know?"

"Oh, yeah." Jiraiya pocketed his notepad. "I ran into Yamato-san on the way down here. Apparently you're late for an interrogation so he volunteered to fill in for you."

Kakashi cursed and snatched up his head band. He still had more evidence he'd meant to compile before meeting Yusha again. The mention of interrogation seemed to bring Erisu back to her body. She blinked away her Himitsugan and looked from each of them anxiously.

"Try not to hurt him," she said to Kakashi, "he's a loathsome git, true enough, but beating him won't warrant you any new intel. Yusha would love a reason to tell everyone that Konoha-nin are cruel and unjust. Don't give him any more ammunition."

Kakashi considered her for a moment. Bite marks and bruises were already appearing on her neck and chest. He rubbed his head in embarrassment and looked away, distracted again.

"There's something else that requires your attention..." Jiraiya's voice had changed drastically. Kakashi glanced over at him to see the sage's face hardened and troubled.

"Sasuke..." He deduced.

"Yeah." Jiraiya nodded gravely. "Sasuke killed Orochimaru. Tsunade wants you there when we break the news to Naruto and Sakura."

"But..." Erisu eyed them both curiously. "...isn't that a good thing? Sasuke-san is free now, right?"

"Yeah, but he won't be coming back to Konohagakure if that's what you're thinking." Kakashi closed his eyes heavily and pulled his headband down.

"He's not actually going to try and kill Itachi-senpai, is he..?" Erisu was horrified.

"He's freed Orochimaru's test subjects and has put together his own team," Jiraiya told them, "they're already in pursuit of the Akatsuki from what I've gathered."

Kakashi placed his hands on the table and hung his head. That boy would never give up on his obsession with revenge. He knew how hard his students would take it when they learned what their friend was doing. _Oh Sasuke, you fool._

"Tsunade has sent Sakura to get Naruto," Jiraiya went on, "they'll be back in the tower soon. You should be there."

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I need to see this interrogation through. Ten-Yamato isn't equipped to get through to this detainee." He shrugged back into his vest and looked over at the Sannin. "You should tell Naruto."

"...me?" Jiraiya scratched the wart on his nose. "I don't think-"

"You're his godfather," Kakashi reminded him, "I'll meet you guys once I'm done in the dungeons."

Jiraiya grunted. He'd intended to kill Orochimaru himself, Kakashi reflected, it must be hard learning that his old comrade was dead, no matter what he'd become in the end. Kakashi headed for the door but Erisu caught his sleeve. When he met he eyes he wanted to throw her back onto the table and finish what he'd started but he knew there was important work to be done now. He stroked her cheek reassuringly and she pressed her face into his gloved palm.

"Yusha doesn't love Emi-chan and Rūka-kun like I do," she murmured, "they're his half siblings so he's not as attached to them."

"You're his pressure point, aren't you?" Kakashi intoned.

"...yes." Her eyes looked haunted. "He cared about me once, before Aya married, maybe you could remind him of that? But please..." She entwined her fingers in his and he instinctively moved closer to her. He could smell cotton candy in her hair and the marks he'd left on her throat and bust were livid now. "... _please_ remember what's at stake. Emi is only seven years old, and so _so_ innocent..." Her eyes glittered with tears. "She's the same age I was when my mother married him."

Kakashi could feel lightning coursing through him, ready to be made into a blade and plunged through that man's cold, dead heart. "I won't let them be harmed," he promised, "Yusha will give up Aya's location and your siblings will be rescued." He pressed his forehead against hers, their noses brushed for a moment. Then he withdrew and swept towards the door, pausing only to pat his sensei's master on the shoulder. "I'll meet you in Tsunade-sama's office." And he strode from the archives, fully intending to do whatever it took to get what he wanted from Yusha.

 _Risu-chan, forgive me._


	39. Chapter 37: Wrath of a Good Man

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN**

 ** _Wrath of a Good Man_**

~Erisu~

Looking up at the esteemed Toad Sage with fretful blue eyes, Erisu realized that they were alone. Jiraiya was at least six feet tall and Erisu, who barely reached five, was tiny by comparison. She stared up at him nervously, slightly ruffled by Kakashi's abrupt departure, but she couldn't really blame him considering the news that'd just been delivered. She just wished he hadn't left her alone with the great Sannin after he'd happened upon their "dirty deed".

"Excuse me, Jiraiya-sama," she said, bowing low, "I should return to my studies."

"Your studies," he repeated with a suggestive smile, "that seems to be going well for you, huh? Getting some practical experience?" He nudged her with a burly arm. She rocked on the balls of her feet from the push, stiff as a board. "I must say..." He shook his head, a deep, rich laugh resounding through the deserted archives. "...Kakashi is a sly bastard."

"I'm sorry?" She peeked up at him. "How so?"

"Well he told me all about you but sneakily omitted a few important details," Jiraiya said, "I trained the Yondaime, who of course trained Kakashi. Minato was like a father to Kakashi and like a son to me so I guess I'm kind of like his grandfather? Well anyways we talk about our students, usually Naruto, but he's mentioned you a fair bit also."

"Has he now?" Erisu didn't know how to feel about that so she concentrated on fixing her bandages.

"Oh yeah, he told me how you met, how you healed him. He told me about your empathic abilities and of course Tsunade filled me in on the curse."

Erisu scowled at her stupid leg. Did everyone know?

"...but he never told me you were such a beauty!" He adjusted his horned forehead protector, smiling wanly. "And he also conveniently forgot to mention that you're lovers."

Erisu cleared her throat loudly and picked up the ancient tome she'd been reading before Kakashi had arrived. "I really must resume my research," she said again, more pointedly, as she slid the book back into its place. The floor was littered in books and papers. She knelt to tidy them up.

"Research is kinda your thing right?" Jiraiya crouched to assist her. "Who gave you special permission to use the archives anyways?"

"Shizune-senpai," Erisu answered as she gathered up a collection of yellowed scrolls. "She's been trying to keep me busy."

"You strike me as very intellectual," he commented following suite when she stood to put away the old documents. "You value pursuits of the mind?"

She eyed him warily. "Yes..."

"Perfect!" He rubbed his hands together. "Pop quiz! Who christened my teammates and I as the Sannin?"

"Hanzō of the Salamander, leader of Amegakure," she answered automatically.

"A+!" He reached around her to shelve a book, striking a flirtatious pose. "I think we'll get along quite nicely!"

Erisu simply analyzed him sceptically. She'd read about his feats in the Second World War and witnessed his defeat of Orochimaru's summoning snakes during the Konoha Crush but she was also aware of his reputation as a major pervert.

"You know," he said charismatically, "I'm a renowned author and am researching the secrets and motivations of women such as yourself. As someone who appreciates the need to understand the inner workings of everything I'm sure you can relate. Would you be interested in consenting to an interview?"

"An interview?" Erisu echoed, intrigued in spite of herself, "what sort of novels do you write?"

"Your sensei is a big fan," announced the Sannin, "why don't you ask him about the series sometime? An author's opinion of their book isn't as reliable as that of their readers."

"...The Incredibly Gutsy Ninja?" She asked hopefully. If the circumstances had been different she might've asked him to autograph her battered copy of the adventure tale.

"No!" He guffawed, shaking his big mane of white hair. He looked like a kabuki theatre actor, she thought distractedly.

"But my point is..." Jiraiya slung his arm around her shoulders. "You seem to have a veritable treasure trove of valuable information in regards to courtship and sexual tension." He made a face reminiscent of a cook tasting a particularly exquisite soup. "You and Kakashi... Spicy! The student and the sensei getting wild in an archives, it's brilliant! I love it! I want you to tell me every dirty little detail for my next book."

She doubted the copy ninja would appreciate it if this situation ever got out. Loyally she dismissed him. "Kakashi-sensei and I? No. I think you misinterpreted what you saw..." Then an understanding clicked in her head and she forgot what she'd been about to say. "You're the author of Icha-Icha."

"The almighty!" He beamed vainly. "Have you read any of my steamy dramas?"

"I haven't," she replied, "my instructors don't think the content would be suitable for me."

Jiraiya spun her around like a dancing doll, Erisu wide eyed and horrified. "They don't know what they're talking about! You look like you have a fine taste in literature and there's none finer than the Icha-Icha series!" Erisu was still shaken by the dramatic twirl as he ushered her over to the table and pushed her into a sitting position. He straddled the chair beside her, resting his hands on the back rest.

"I always thought it was odd that Kakashi, being such a hopeless romantic, was a bachelor. I mean he's my most dedicated fan so he must have plenty of raunchy thoughts.

"I always assumed he was single cause I'd find out if he was seeing anyone. He's too deep and passionate for superficial dating or casual flings. " Jiraiya s ratchet his chin thoughtfully. "He is a very private person though. I mean, he keeps his face hidden for crying out loud! So I guess it shouldn't be so surprising that he has a secret lover.

"But what I want to know is why it's taken him so long to find love? Maybe he was already heartbroken, or mourning a lost sweetheart?" He put his arm around Erisu again and painted his idea across the ceiling with a big hand. "Picture it: the lonely and aloof sensei with a tragic past, drawn to his tentative pupil but unable to let go of his sorrows. The sweet and sexy (but inexperienced) student, dedicated to her master but denying her feelings out of fear. A romance forged in the tension of impending war, will the lovers ever be together? Or will it end in tragedy? I give you: Icha... Icha... Secrets!

"Now Erisu, baby, tell me: what caused your fear of men? Are you ready to put yourself out there and risk falling in love? Will he be the first man you've been with? What is it about him that attracts you? Turn ons? Turn offs? What precisely gets you in 'the mood'? What kinky fantasies consume your thoughts? Tell me everything!" She blinked up at him, silent and confused.

"Icha-Icha Secrets?" She echoed at last, overwhelmed, "I'm sorry... what?" Had he just turned her complicated relationship into a summarized cliché?

"Don't try to play coy, Erisu-chan!" Jiraiya chuckled and hugged her against him. "I saw how much technique you just displayed-"

Erisu stammered awkwardly.

"-you are a bonafide goldmine!" He squeezed her tight against his muscled torso in a suffocating hug. "You just need to loosen up a bit. Have you ever had sake?"

"Excuse me, Jiraiya-sama..." They both looked up abruptly to find Yuma standing a few strides away. "...but I need to speak with," he hesitated, his expression dark, "with Erisu-chan." Erisu flushed, wondering how much of Jiraiya's ramblings he'd heard. The Toad Sage pulled her to her feet as he stood and beamed at the Hyūga jōnin. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with Yuma. She looked up at the Sannin pleadingly, trying to silently beg him to stay. She didn't want Jiraiya to abandon her to what was likely going to be a lengthy interrogation of her own.

But Jiraiya was oblivious to her begging expression. "Sure thing. She's all yours," he said to the young man, then he stooped to whisper in Erisu's ear, "do I sense a love triangle?" She stared at him in horror. He rolled his broad shoulders and said in a normal voice, "well, we'll talk about this later. 'Research everything', isn't that your moto, Erisu-chan?" She made a noncommittal sound, in this case she wasn't sure research was the appropriate word. Yuma's jaw was clenched with impatience.

Jiraiya had begun to walk away when he turned back to whisper in her ear again, "by the way, you might want to invest in a scarf to cover those hickies." He straightened and spoke normally, "see you around, sweet thing!" Then he strode from the archives just like Kakashi before him and things went from bad to worse.

~Kakashi~

Kakashi ducked into the dango shop and scanned the patrons threateningly. Could what needed to know be safely discussed here without being overheard by someone who might thwart everything? He glazed over at the table where he'd once seen Itachi and Kisame just before he'd been put under the criminal Uchiha's genjutsu. Anko was sitting there now, chatting up a plump, pretty faced waitress. He focussed on the curvy serving girl as if squiring his target.

"Excuse me," he interrupted politely, "Kita Harumi is it?" The girl looked at him with round brown eyes and nodded trepidatiously. "Could I have a word with you in private?"

She nodded again and followed him to an empty corner, Anko's eyes following them curiously. Once they were safely out of earshot, Kakashi gestured for Harumi to sit and seated himself across from her.

"I'm not in trouble am I?" Erisu's friend asked nervously.

"Not yet," he allowed himself to be just scary enough to keep her compliant. "Just answer my questions honestly and there won't be a problem. You said you've known Erisu since she first arrived in the village. Correct?"

Harumi nodded.

"Were you aquatinted with her siblings as well?"

She nodded again.

"Alright." He collected his thoughts. "Tell me everything about the Hakuchō and Akaiuma family. Everything, no detail is to be overlooked. Do you understand."

She nodded once more.

"Good. Now start at the beginning..."

* * *

"Senpai!" Tenzō spotted Kakashi first as he approached them at a brisk pace. "You're late." Shizune and Inoichi looked up silently from where the three of them stood at the entrance to the dungeons.

Kakashi thought quickly. "Yeah, sorry about that..." He rubbed his head. "A herd of Nara deer passed through town so I was held up." He quickly diverted the topic before they could question his excuse. "Has he said anything?"

"He didn't fall for our trick," Inoichi said, "he's too clever."

"He's not that clever," Kakashi replied coldly. If anyone believed the kind of crap that Aya taught her cult they couldn't be particularly intelligent. "We need to break him."

"He'll break eventually," Inoichi said patiently, "they all do."

"We can't wait for him to speak on his own terms." Kakashi opened the door to the dungeons for his three companions. "We need to coerce him, and fast. Every minute Erisu grows weaker."

"I think we should enlist the assistance of Ibiki-san," Shizune said as they started down the stairs.

"I don't want him harmed if it can be avoided." Inoichi looked over at Kakashi for support but didn't find it.

"There are forms of torture other than physical," he said, having already come to a decision, "Ibiki-san is reputed for understanding the inner workings of the human mind as well as their body. Having another interrogator to assist us could only be beneficial."

"Do you doubt my abilities?"

"Not your abilities." Kakashi stopped at the foot of the stairs to meet his comrade's eye. "Only your resolve."

Inoichi was taken aback. "My resolve? I've carried out interrogations of the likes that you wouldn't believe."

"Oh I'm sure I would believe," Kakashi said cooly, "but were any of your detainees family? That is, were they your sister's child, your beloved nephew?"

The older man sighed. "While I see your point, I assure you I won't let my personal feelings get in the way."

Kakashi nodded tersely. "See that they don't. There is too much at stake." My lover and two captive children...

"If I may," Shizune spoke up again, "Ibiki-san's mere presence has been said to make prisoners fess up out of fear. If we were to just introduce them-"

"Yusha-kun isn't your average boy-"

"We're aware of that," Kakashi interrupted them both. "But Shizune-san is right. Jōnin have committed suicide rather than letting themselves be subjected to an interview with Mr. Morino. If Yusha-san still says nothing I'll summon Ibiki-san myself." He started off down the dimly lit corridor without waiting for a reply. There was no looking back, this was Erisu's life on the line. He wasn't risking the loss of Yusha now that they had him. No matter the cost, he'd get the information he needed.

"Is it lunch time yet?" Was Yusha's greeting when the four jōnin entered the cell. "I haven't had breakfast, not even water. I'm starving. You know that prisoners are more forthcoming when shown respect and all that happy crap, right?"

"And what makes you think you deserve my respect?" Kakashi swept across the room and dropped a heavy envelope on the table. "Take a look at what your negligence has done and then we'll see just how much respect you deserve." He slid the first photo towards the prisoner, Erisu and him when she'd first become his student. "This was Erisu only months ago."

"So this is little Erisu-chan all grown up, a dangerous little ninja eh?" Yusha glanced at the photo with boredom. "She looks like a boy with short hair."

Kakashi didn't reply. Even if her hair was shorn to the scalp she'd still be lovely to look at but Yusha knew how Kakashi felt about his sister and was trying to piss him off. He pushed forward the freshly developed photograph he'd taken of her in the archives. Her hair had lost its shine, her skin colourless and veined, yet even as she was, broken and wasted away, she was still beautiful. Yusha examined it thoughtfully.

"This was taken today." He kept his pinwheel eye fixed on the boy, missing nothing. "She has less than a year to live."

"Is this supposed to make me feel guilty?" Yusha lifted his doe eyes, cold and flat. "She looks anorexic. She was always self conscious about her body, thinking she was overweight and ugly. Dumb bitch, is she starving herself now?"

Kakashi didn't react. He was the interrogator here and he was the one to induce the cringing. Without a word he flipped the third photo face up and wasn't surprised to see Yusha recoil.

"What the fuck is that?" Her turned his face away from the image, disgusted.

"Thats the curse your mother told you about," Kakashi said casually, "not very pretty is it?"

"Bull-fucking-shit." He annunciated, voice trembling. "Erisu's an ungrateful twat but mother wouldn't kill her. I'm not going to fall for that shit."

"Oh that's not all." He spread out a picture of Erisu in her comatose state, full of needles and surrounded by seals. Her medical file had been full of gems like these. Yuma's eye flickered over her, taking in how close to death she'd been.

"Doctored," he insisted, turning his face away again. "These photographs are fake."

"I'd show you the test results by I highly doubt you'd understand them."

"Whatever, I don't know what you're playing at but my mother wouldn't do that." Erisu really was his weak point. Oddly enough this angered Kakashi even more. If the boy loved her how could he just sit there denying the facts?

"You don't think Aya's capable of this?" Kakashi leaned in. "If your mother's innocent why are you so determined to withhold her location from us?"

"I'm not going to let you soil the sacred home of The Body," Yusha snapped, still unable to look at the photo of Erisu's leg.

"The Body?" Kakashi was aware that Inoichi, Tenzō and Shizune were still standing by the door, staring at him in tense silence, but he didn't care. "So that's the name of your cult? Your god asks for your souls and you become his phisical form, is that the way it works?" Yusha's jaw was clenched in stubborn silence. "You say you're the heir, future Head... Well I say we should decapitate it. A body can't live without its head." Kakashi dropped his voice to a whisper so that his companions wouldn't overhear. "I'll find her whether you tell me or not. You might delay me, you might waste time and cause Erisu's death but I'll find your mother in the end."

Yusha kept his face averted but Kakashi could smell his fear. He let himself give off killing intent and watched the boy squirm anxiously.

"You're brave now," Kakashi hissed in his ear, "but I'd like to see how your will breaks once I move on from words alone..."

"I'm not a prisoner or war!" Yusha snapped, "you have no grounds on which to assault me! I demand an audience with the Hokage!" Kakashi struck him so suddenly the boy took a few moments to realize what'd happened.

"You have no right to demand anything." He backhanded him again, splitting his cheek open with the metal plate on his glove.

"Kakashi!" Inoichi started forward but Tenzō blocked him while Yusha simply stared past them all.

"It wasn't enough to submit one of your sisters to that pedophile was it?" Kakashi caught Yusha's stubbly chin and forced him to meet his eye. "...now Emi-chan has to go through it too. It's not that you don't care...No." He clenched Yusha's jaw so tight he could hear his teeth grating. "You get off on it, don't you?" Yusha tried to object but Kakashi maintained his hold, locking his mouth shut. "Some sort of sick fetish? Letting a fifty-something year old man have his way with your prepubescent sisters?"

Yusha's eyes were pure rage but Kakashi didn't let him speak.

"She's seven now, right? Little Emi-chan? What does she look like? Exactly like her sister doesn't she?" He increased the pressure and heard one of Yusha's molars crack, keeping his voice low and calm all the while. "Is that his type? Innocent little girls with blonde hair?" He remembered Erisu as she'd been at five years old and his anger increased tenfold. "What kind of sick kid are you? Just letting that happen under your roof. It's disgusting. I think you and him both ought to be castrated."

Kakashi released him and stepped back. Yusha spat out his broken tooth, blood splattering the table.

"Is this how justice works in Konoha?" Yusha sneered just as Erisu had predicted. "You lock a man away without food or water and then assault him while he's unarmed and restrained?"

Kakashi met his eye evenly. " _Yes_." He placed his hands on the table and smiled with his eyes. "And unless you give us the location of the cult that cursed Risu, I will personally ensure that the entire Body will have a nice long visit down here with the other murderers and scum."

Unease flickered in Yusha's eyes. "They are good people, anointed people."

"Well you're their representative," Kakashi ignored Inoichi's accusing stare. "You're their future leader, showing us exactly what this 'Body' is worth. If you're trying to convince me that your congregation consists of law abiding saints then you're doing a piss-poor job."

Kakashi knew the others were astonished by his behaviour but they wouldn't intervene and undermine his authority. The copy ninja finally sat down across from his prisoner. Right now Sasuke was pursuing his brother with the intent to kill him for his transgressions, while Erisu had pleaded to keep her brother from harm. He didn't know who was worse.

"You've really screwed her up," Kakashi said quietly, "Risu, I mean. I've seen some pretty horrible things during my career in the Anbu but what you did to her..." He shook his head. "Was she always this acquiescent? So ready to accept abuse? How long did you have to tear down her defences and assault her confidence before she became this way?"

"I never hurt my sister," Yuma declared.

"Yes you did." It was Inoichi who spoke up. "I saw the bruises on her arms when she was little. I saw the way you'd whisper insults in her ear." He swept across the room in a rustling swath of black. "I remember how you'd harp on her about that friend of hers...what was her name? The girl who died?"

"Sora Miwa," Tenzō answered, "I found Erisu-san with her body."

Yusha curled his lip back and sneered at them all. He'd just realized that he was outnumbered. "So that dyke's dead?" He smiled churlishly. "Serves her right. Holding Erisu's hand and playing with her hair in public..." He spat a glob of reddened phlegm on the photo of Erisu and Kakashi. "The little butch with her roaming fingers."

Kakashi had gone still, confused, and Yusha noticed. "Didn't you know my sis is a carpet muncher? I bet she didn't think to bring that up while screwing around with you."

"I'll hear no more vulgarities out of you," Inoichi said, face tight with revulsion.

"Kakashi-san," Yusha said, ignoring his uncle, "you smell like her, all sugary and sweet. Were you fuckin' around with her just now? I bet that's why you were late to the party."

"You seem to find it all very funny," Kakashi muttered darkly, "but tell me...what happened to the boy who gave his sister his hand me downs so that she could look like a ninja too? Who taught her how to tree climb and handle kunai?"

Yusha sucked his shattered teeth, silent.

"You used to call her your 'mini me' once upon a time, didn't you?" Kakashi watched sweat trickle down Yusha's temple. "The two of you ran around in matching headbands and identical braids, dreaming of being ninjas...until you decided that your desire to have a daddy was more important than her."

"How the fuck do you know that?" Yusha demanded.

"You know who he is, don't you?" Sounded Tenzō's voice from over Kakashi's shoulder. "Arguably the most deadly shinobi the Leaf has ever produced!"

Yusha scoffed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm pretty sure Itachi's deadlier. He's the one who slaughtered his entire clan, not this little grey haired prat."

Tenzō laughed that cold laugh of pure mirth that could chill anyone's blood. "But that's what makes Kakashi-senpai so much worse..." He leered down on Yusha with his large possum eyes. "...because he has morals. He has the Will of Fire. You've harmed someone important to him, whether directly or not it's irrelevant. Your complacency with the abuse is as bad as inflicting the damage yourself." Yusha's eyes darted between the jōnin assembled before him with mounting fear. "The wrath of a good man is far worse, far deadlier, than the that of a villain."

The door opened and Anko poked her head in, her ponytail of spiky, bruise black hair fanning around her head. _Right on schedule._

"Hey," she began with a broad smile, "Inoichi-san, sorry to bother you, but I need you for a minute. It's urgent."

The interrogator furrowed his brow at her curiously but followed her out without objection. Kakashi estimated how long it would take for them to have receded enough for the next step.

"Tenzō," he addressed the Anbu without taking his eyes off of Yusha.

"Er-yes senpai?"

"Go get Morino Ibiki, would you? He's in vault fourteen."

"You're bluffing," Yusha said sharply but Tenzō faithfully obeyed as Kakashi knew he would. Now only he and Shizune remained.

"Shizune-san, do you have those poisons I mentioned earlier?"

"Yes..." He could feel her uneasy gaze on the back of his head but payed it no attention.

"Good. Prep a syringe please." She wouldn't disobey in front of the prisoner, and risk failing the interrogation. Yusha's eyes were widening, making the familial resemblance between himself and Erisu very striking. He only looked like his sister when showing fright because he'd left her in a permanent state of fear. Kakashi collected the photographs and deposited them back into the envelope while he waited. After a few more moments of Yusha's uneven breathing and Shizune's soft fumbling with the surgical tools the door opened again. Kakashi rose to greet the torturer.

"So this is the one you told me about?" Ibiki gave Yusha an appraising look. "I know his type. Craven pretty boy." He tugged his cloak, straightening the high upturned collar and started across the room. "Shall we get started then?"

"No!" Yusha looked desperately at Shizune, the only one who hadn't spoken in favour of torture yet, but her face was impassive. Little did he know she was well acquainted with his little sister. "I didn't do anything!"

"Exactly," Kakashi said as Yusha was enveloped in Ibiki's shadow. "You could've defended her but instead _you didn't do anything_."


	40. Chapter 38: Murphy's Law

**CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT**

 ** _Murphy's Law_**

~Kakashi

Yusha's face was blank as canvas, and just as pale. Only his parlour gave away his fear as he stared staunchly at the torturer seated across from him. Kakashi sat between Tenzō and Ibiki as the three of them observed Yusha in cold silence.

Shizune approached the detainee, her black eyes were as sharp as obsidian and glittering with anger. She'd spent lots of time with Erisu from the investigation and through their work in hospice, Kakashi understood, and, although "friends" might be too strong of a word, the women were undoubtedly close. Shizune had no love for this boy who was content to let his little sister die, that much was clear as she tugged back Yusha's plumed linen sleeve.

"I hate needles," he snapped, yanking his arm away. His shackles rattled. "I'm not going to consent to being poisoned. I want a lawyer! Where's the Hokage?"

Kakashi merely nodded to Tenzō and the Anbu member snapped his hands together. Roots burst through the concrete floor, cracking the cement as they lunged for Yusha. He yelped in alarm as the wood snaked around his body and bound him against the metal chair. Astonished, he stared at the roots.

"You can expect pain," Shizune informed him as she jabbed the needle into his shoulder.

"Holy fucking mother of a pisswizard!" Yusha hooted and laughed through gritted teeth. "That's better than fifty shots of espresso! I should add it to my morning routine. Hot damn cunt-puddles!" He inhaled sharply through his teeth and whistled. "Shizune-chan, was it? You could make a lot of money if you put on a corset and some scary makeup when you do that." Shizune ignored him, moving into a corner to rearrange her medical supplies.

"Now let's make this simple," Kakashi began calmly, "you've just been injected with a powerful stimulant so sleeping isn't an option."

"Oh scary." The smirk was back.

"Shizune-san, are you ready?"

"Yes..." She had the IV needle, pole, and saline packages. He knew she was struggling internally with the morality of what he'd assigned her to do, but he also knew she was prepared to perform the deed.

Yusha's eyes flickered over the long needle and fluids. "What's this..?"

"Some like to call it a 'truth serum'," Ibiki explained, "it's gonna help loosen up your tongue."

"Ah...how clever." He grinned up at Shizune as she swabbed his inner elbow. "Corset? Maybe some fishnet?" She ignored him. "No? I'd let you use a whip on me if you'd sit on my face."

"Shut up." Tenzō was bristling.

"Ignore him," Ibiki advised. "He's just trying to offend us." He turned his disfigured face on Yusha. "You'll get what you're owed. Be patient, worm."

"'Worm'?" Yusha's smile broadened. "Really? What's next, 'maggot'?" Shizune stabbed the needle into his vein and he winced. She taped it down and attached the IV. Saline started dripping.

She looked over at Kakashi for instructions. "Right away will be good," he decided. "Time is of the essence after all." A dark glass bottle was produced and Shizune filled a syringe with its contents.

"And what's that..?" Yusha failed to keep the tremor from his voice now.

"Sodium thiopental," Shizune answered as she added it to his drip.

"...meaning?"

"It's a psychoactive medication." She increased the flow. "Since you haven't been very forthcoming this far we're going to speed up the process with a little narcoanalysis. A disassociated state should make you more talkative."

Yusha watched the liquid as it was pumped into his arm, eyes wide and anxious. Then he swallowed and curled his lip. "What's that taste? It's like...rotting onions."

"Just a side-effect," Shizune mused. "It's very common, you might also feel nauseated."

"But the best part is we've given you a lethal dose." Kakashi's Sharingan had Yusha's terror playing out in satisfying slow motion. "You'll only get the antidote when we get Aya's location."

"This is _sick_!" Yusha bellowed, "who authorized this?"

"It was my idea. It's a method I use quite regularly, with incomparable results." Ibiki folded his arms. "But it _was_ sanctioned by Tsunade-sama, rest assured."

"It's your choice, Yusha-san," Kakashi said, "you can either sit their until you've been filled with enough of the medication to euthanize you, or you can tell us where your mother is and Shizune-san will give you the antidote." He smiled beneath his mask. "So what's it going to be?"

His pupils were dilating as the drug took affect but his jaw remained clenched. "Kill me."

* * *

~Erisu

The Hyūga man ran his hand over the polished table top as he approached her. His pale eyes were downcast and his aura intense.

"D-did you need something, senpai?" Erisu followed him with her eyes.

"What's Icha-Icha Secrets?" He drawled, keeping his gaze on the wooden surface.

"Some novel Jiraiya-sama is working on, I gather." She eyed him warily. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Curiosity."

"He wanted to interview me for a book," she rambled nervously, "he's quite the creative genius, you know. A v-very esteemed author..."

"Right." He didn't sound angry, which unsettled her. "...So you and Kakashi, huh?" It wasn't a question. "I guess it was only a matter of time..."

"You said you wanted to speak with me?" _Get it over with, quickly, like a bandaid._ "I'm listening."

"Yeah." He chewed his lip, eyes positively glowing with emotion. "You already know how I feel about you and of course you understand that Kakashi and I don't get along. I won't get into the mission that caused all that cause it's kind of besides the point but-well-I'm okay with it."

"...with the mission?"

"Are you an empath or not?" He snapped. "Look! I'm saying I'm okay with whatever you and Kakashi have going on."

She analyzed him for a moment. "No you're not."

He faked a smile, but his mask of false emotion concealed nothing. "Okay, so maybe I'm not okay with it but I've decided not to actively intervene. For the most part anyways."

"How gracious of you," she said sarcastically.

"But just because I'm not going to get in the middle of whatever the hell kind of relationship you and that cold blooded dog-lover have-" Erisu narrowed her eyes. "-that doesn't mean I'm going to stand by and let you die."

She braced herself.

"You might be fine with curling up and accepting defeat but I'm not." His fiery white eyes burned through the table. "You're sitting here reading, Tsunade's busy with the Akatsuki threat and who knows what Kakashi's up to..." He slammed his fist down on the table with a startling bang that echoed through the archives. " _Nobody is doing anything!_ " He roared, making Erisu jump. "I'm not going to watch everything fall apart!" His rage was a hurricane.

"Nobody said you had to-"

"Shut up and listen for a minute!" He rounded on her. "You _saved my life_ , Erisu-chan. You are so talented that Kakashi wanted you placed in the Anbu! You're probably more skilled than Kiyomi." She started to object but he overruled her, droning on. "You're smart, and sexy, and a genuinely nice person-which is rare to find, especially in this lifestyle. Hinata-hime is gentle too but you're..." He groped for the words."...you're so _genuine_ and I just love you so much."

"Yuma-senpai-"

"Let me finish! Whoever did this to you-" he gestured at her leg "-your mother or whoever it was, they're going to die. Mark my words: their death is guaranteed." That was far from reassuring. "I hate Kakashi. But I'll help him save you anyways. I'd do anything for you."

"Yuma..."

"Your leg..." His face lifted to hers finally. "...may I see it?"

Erisu swallowed her trepidation and unwound the bandages. The linen fell away and the horrible, mottled flesh was revealed. Yuma looked away in disgust and Erisu shrunk with shame. She knew it was hideous but seeing the revolution of others was almost too much to bear. After a moment he knelt in front of her, his long hair brushing the jade beneath their feet.

"May I?" He asked in his slow, pious voice. Erisu nodded uncertainly and he touched her thigh gently. His fingertips were warm and callused but his nails were clean and pink. The touch was painful, even a tender stroke felt like a firebrand; she recoiled.

"It hurts?"

She nodded.

"Always?"

Another nod.

"What's Tsunade doing about it?" His Byakugan pulsated as he examined the corrupted chakra in her leg.

"There's very little she can do..." Erisu swallowed hard. "Kakashi-sensei is interrogating my-my brother right now. They're trying to find my mother to make her remove the curse."

Yuna looked up sharply, face hopeful. "Well? What's happening? Has he said anything?"

"Not thus far..." Erisu felt her face warming rapidly. "Kakashi came by to-er-ask me about my brother to find his weaknesses."

Yuma stood, slowly and deliberately, to tower over her. He was far too close for her liking and Erisu back stepped. She felt a stab of hurt from him but ignored it. She wasn't going to let her understanding of his feelings muddle up the already complicated cocktail of her own emotions. She started re-bandage her leg as an excuse to look away.

"Erisu-chan, are you alright?" He asked slowly, "it can't be easy knowing your brother is being interrogated...regardless of what he's done."

"Of course I am." She smiled up at him with perfect acting. "I trust Kakashi-sensei's judgment. He won't let his personal feelings get in the way."

The door banged open and Inoichi swept into the archives. "Erisu-chan," he began tersely, "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I must speak with you."

Today was not her day. "Ojisan..." She stared with saucer eyes. "It's so good to see you..."

His expression softened slightly. "Erisu," he repeated as he approached. Yuma retreated politely as her uncle embraced her warmly. "How you've grown..."

"Well, you haven't aged a day," she told him sheepishly.

"Liar." He laughed. Then the affection faded and his voice hardened again. "There's something you need to know."

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid we've been deceived."

Erisu felt her stomach drop. "How do you mean?"

"Kakashi-sensei tricked me into leaving Yusha-kun's interrogation," Inoichi said, "he's summoned Morino Ibiki without my authorization and is torturing your brother as we speak."

" _What_?" Erisu could hardly speak, "no...he wouldn't-he said-but I asked him not to hurt him..!"

"You and I know that beating Yusha will garner nothing from your brother but it seems that Kakashi has somehow let himself be blinded. It's very unlike him to ever let emotion interfere with the directive but there we have it and now I need your help."

"But how could I-what could I..." She breathed to steady herself. "What need I do?"

* * *

~Kakashi~

"You think you understand what's going on do you?" Yusha blew a strand of sweaty hair out of his face. His skin was chalky and his eyes unfocused, his shackled hands trembling. "You think Erisu is the victim and The Body is the villain?" His laugh was dark and guttural. "She's far from innocent."

Kakashi didn't even blink. "Where is Aya?"

"If you knew what it was like..." Yusha tilted his head to the side, his brow was swollen and his eye shutting down but the look of scorn was still as clear as ever. "...if you knew what _she_ was like... you wouldn't want to help her."

Kakashi fought his curiosity, refusing to let the kid get under his skin.

"Ever wonder how she got her name in the north? Ever wonder how a girl of fifteen crossed the Elemental Nations alone unharmed?" His voice dropped till it was scarcely audible. "Ever wonder why she's known as the 'Ninja of Nightmares'?"

"I'm familiar with the Kekkai Genkai of the Hakuchō Clan," Kakashi said dismissively, "but Risu's actions are irrelevant in this investigation. Save your breathe for what actually matters. _Where is Aya_?"

Yusha rolled his eyes. "'Risu'," he mimicked, "'poor Risu', 'innocent Risu'." He cocked his head and stared sidelong at Tenzō. "You there, with the Wooden Superpower!"

Tenzō glanced at Kakashi for permission before answering. "Speak quickly."

"Describe what Miwa looked like after Erisu killed her, if you'd be so kind."

Kakashi's eyes never left Yusha as Tenzō hesitantly obliged.

"She was dead."

"Obviously. Expound on that. Please."

"Sora Miwa had been one of Orochimaru-sama's many test subjects and was malnourished, abused, and very imbalanced from both a medical and psychological standpoint." He glanced at Kakashi again. "When my team and I found her body she was already dead. Her chakra had been completely depleted and her throat slit. Erisu-san was holding Miwa-san's body and was at first suspected to be the killer but she was cleared of that do to Kakashi-senpai's character profile."

Yusha's eyes glimmered. "You know that handy little jutsu Erisu invented to help Miwa train? The Chakra Transference Jutsu?" He leaned forward, his wooden bonds creaking from the pressure. "It can be reversed as well. She did it to me once after some stupid argument about the stray cats she was taking care of. She left me bedridden for a week."

"And this affects my current investigation how?" Kakashi's voice remained emotionless. "Just tell me where Aya is and I'll administer the antidote. Otherwise you only have...twenty minutes left to live, am I right Shizune-san?"

"That's right," her voice was tense.

"Look at you three..." Yusha feigned a yawn. "Just a bunch of dogs obeying the commands of this ninken trainer here. 'Sic 'em, boy'!" He chortled. "Look at all the good doggies ready to sit, fetch, and kill for their master."

Ibiki's palm cracked Yusha's nose and blood splattered across the table. The boy's straight nose was crooked and swelling rapidly, blood oozing into his mouth, but he only flashed a reddened grin.

"Good boy."

"Shut up, hustler," the scarred man warned, "this dog doesn't play nice."

"Awe." Yusha looked over at Shizune and gave her a clumsy wink with his swollen eyes. "Have you tapped that yet, Shizune-chan? I think he needs your whip and needles to teach him a lesson. We could make it a threesome."

"That's enough out of you!" Tenzō was on his feet. "I won't tolerate your harassment!"

"Sit down, Tenzō," Kakashi advised cooly, "he's just toying with us." The Anbu sat.

"Heel boy! Sit! Good boy!" Yusha made a whistling noise and clicked his teeth. "You're better behaved than that big bulldog over there, aren't ya? I think you deserve a treat!"

"Maybe we should increase the IV pressure?" Tenzō suggested with his most menacing expression.

"I agree." Kakashi observed the reddening of Yusha's ears and the flickering pulse in his collarbone. "Shizune?"

"Okay, okay!" Yusha's eyes darted nervously. "I know you won't actually kill me, cause dead men tell no tales, but I'm not too eager to feel what more of this drug is like." He chewed his lip. "We were talking about Erisu, right? About her jutsu?"

"We're talking about Aya," Ibiki snarled, "you have twenty minutes to surrender her location before you fall into a coma from the serum. You will be on life support with severe neurological damage and will be therefore indisposed while we locate and capture your mother and her cult. If you are not compliant the entire Body, yourself included, will be tried for torture of the most heinous kind, and conspiring to commit murder, not to mention child endangerment and harbouring a wanted criminal. But if you tell us where Aya is and help us apprehend her The Body may be spared and your sentence will be less severe." The man leered across the bloodied table and smiled wickedly. "So what's it going to be?"

"Bite me." Yusha spat a glob of blood and phlegm at Ibiki's face.

"You bastard!" Morino caught yusha by the throat and shook him so hard his teeth rattled together. "I will flay you!"

"Bull!" Yusha rolled his eyes. "You can't kill me!"

"Flaying won't necessarily kill you," Ibiki sneered, "I'd excoriate you, peel your skin from your muscles like a the carcass of a deer." He was so close to Tusha their faces were nearly touching. "First I'd strip you down and bind you to a table, spread eagle. The first incision will start at your gullet-" he jabbed Yusha's throat with a finger- "then straight down your front like unzipping a jacket. I'd slide my knife under your soft, pretty boy hide and slice away the membrane between your skin and meat. Maybe I'll even make myself a new belt out of you."

"That's enough!" Inoichi entered the cell looking absolutely livid. Kakashi closed his eyes. _Time's up_.

"Inoichi-san." Ibiki released Yusha and faced his colleague. "How unexpected."

"Well, good day, Oji!" Yusha drew a shaking breath and spat more blood into the table. "Back so soon? You must've missed me." The boy was trembling all over, terrified of Ibiki, but had that stupid, arrogant smirk plastered all over his beaten face.

"What have you done?" Inoichi demanded as he looked from the Yusha's crooked nose to the wooden bounds and IV. "I am frankly shocked that your would trick me like this, Kakashi. And Shizune-san." His eyes were flashing with fire. "What would your uncle Don say if he saw that you'd consented to conspiring in this treachery?"

"Stop being so melodramatic," Ibiki said sharply as he stalked over to the other interrogator. "She's just doing her job. We all are."

"Really?" Their eyes locked. "And bribing Anko into drawing me away while you torture my nephew is completely justified is it?"

"He's about to break," Ibiki snarled.

"Am not!" Yusha objected.

"You're out of your element on this one, Inoichi, and you're too soft. A firm hand is needed with this boy."

"Torture isn't a reliable way to gather Intel!" Inoichi snapped. "It's been proven time and time again that people are more talented at lying under threat of pain and death than most would give them credit for!"

"We don't have time for this," Kakashi said calmly, "Erisu has only a couple months left. I'm willing to do what it takes to save her, even if you're not, Inoichi-san."

"Is that so?" Asked a drawling voice. Kakashi looked over his shoulder and saw that Yuma and Erisu were standing in the doorframe. His innards evaporated. "Even torture her brother in secret?"

" _Oniisan_..." Erisu's voice broke. "...what've they done to you?"

"Well, well, well." Yusha's silvery green eyes tried to focus on his little sister. "Look at you, all gallant and noble. Are you the knight in shining armour here to rescue me from this dungeon?" He pulled a face. "Does that make me a damsel in distress? No a 'don', 'domius'? Hmm... 'Damoiseau' maybe?"

Kakashi stood slowly, eyes fastened on his lover as dread began to weigh down his bones like lead. "Risu..." He began uncertainly but she didn't even register him as she started towards her brother. Her eyes flickered over the IV and took in Yusha's disassociated state.

"W-what is this?" She pointed at the truth serum dripping steadily into the boy's blood flow. She felt Yusha's pulse beneath his jaw. "A barbiturate?" Her eyes fluttered over his pasty complexion and trembling hands. "You haven't..." She rounded on Kakashi. "You gave him central nervous system depressants?! What were you trying to do?! Euthanize him?!"

"It's just a mild hypnotic," he assured her. _Lying now will do more damage than good._ "He'll be fine."

Erisu wasn't convinced. "You were going to put him under general anesthesia to break into his mind, weren't you? Don't you know that you could permanently damage his neuronal activity? Barbiturates don't have an antidote and overdose is way too easy!" She turned back to her brother and her hands started glowing. "And his face... His beautiful face." She put a finger on either side of his nose and cracked it back into place.

"Fucking hell, Erisu!" Yusha tried to strike her but he was bound too tight. "A little warning would've been nice!"

"...well, I'll just be on my way then." Kakashi hadn't realized that Ibiki and Inoichi were still talking.

"I think that would be best," Inoichi agreed venomously.

"Kakashi, Yamato, Shizune-san." He nodded to each in turn. "I take my leave. Make sure you break that little shit for me."

"'Little shit'?" Yusha echoed loudly, "so creative! Someone give 'em a prize!" Kakashi wished Kiyomi was there to roast the bastard.

"And if you want to put him on the rack make sure you tell me," Ibiki added to Kakashi, "I'd love to add a couple inches to his height." Then he was gone.

"Erisu-chan," Inoichi said after a moment and she ceased healing her brother. "Are you ready?"

Her eyes brimmed with tears. "Yes, sir." She removed Yusha's IV and taped a wad of cotton onto the injection site.

"Alright..." Inoichi took a deep breath as if he were preparing to leap off a cliff. "Would everyone back away from the prisoner please."

The four jōnin obliged and Inoichi placed his hands together in the unique frame of the mind transfer jutsu. Erisu moved to her uncle's side and gazed miserably at Yusha.

"I thought you said his mind couldn't be penetrated," Shizune spoke up, "what makes now any different from before?"

"Now I have the most powerful genjutsu on my side to make him completely defenceless."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he understood their plan. "Risu, are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's my responsibility to rescue Emi-chan and Rūka-kun," she answered without looking at him. Her pupils shrank into nearly invisible pinpricks and her irises morphed into that bright, pastel pink. "I'm their older sister and unlike Yusha-oniisan, I take my job to protect my siblings seriously."

"Don't start that, Erisu," Yusha said scornfully. "You know there was nothing I could do to stop him."

A single red tear ran over her cheek as her whites flooded with blood. "You could've believed me."

"I believed you," he said with mounting hysteria, "if I fought back then mother would've hated me. She's our parent; her word is law. Children have to respect their parents and obey them. I had to do as I was told! You know that! I was being a good son, and you could've at least *tried* to behave." Erisu's eyes were crystalline and kaleidoscopic as they caught him. Yusha seized up as if he had been ensnared by invisible hands and his pupils retracted, minuscule like hers, as the nightmares began to form. "We...could've been...a family," he rasped, "you could've...forgiven him. Love conquers all..!"

"No," she whispered as Yusha's mouth stretched wide in a silent scream. "Some things can't be forgiven. Sometimes love doesn't conquer all, and sometimes extreme measures must be taken to save those precious to you." She swallowed and Kakashi lowered his eyes. "This is one of those times."

Blood streamed from Yusha's eyes and he screamed, a horrifying, high pitched shriek of absolute terror. Inoichi sent his mind forth and Yusha became rigid again. Yuma caught Inoichi by his shoulders and lowered him carefully to the floor. Blood poured unchecked from Yusha's eyes, streaming over his bruised and sweating face as he started seizing and writhing. Erisu was sobbing, blood and tears mingling as she held her brother with the torturous eye contact.

" _No!_ " Yusha gasped in a terrible gravelly voice, " _don't hurt her! Not my little sister_!" His eyes were stretched wide, fixed on Erisu but he was seeing something else. Erisu covered her mouth to hide her grimace of horror and misery. She was feeling every ounce of his fear and it was destroying her. Yusha twisted again, fighting Erisu's nightmares and the consciousness of his uncle.

Then Inoichi spoke through him. "Just a little longer Erisu," he said in Yusha's hoarse voice, "I've almost got it." Yusha slammed his head against the back of the chair once, twice, three times.

"He's trying to kill himself!" Tenzō exclaimed, "restrain him!"

Kakashi grabbed Yusha's golden head, the back of his hair matting with blood, and kept him still. He couldn't see the boy's face anymore but the screaming continued. Kakashi closed his eyes to keep from seeing Erisu's terrible expression.

" _Please, please, no!_ " Yusha struggled vainly to look away. " _Mother you can't! Take me instead! Take me! Take me_!" Erisu was sobbing audibly into her hand, muffling her strangled whimpers.

Yusha contorted again. "I know where she is," Inoichi cried in a tremulous voice, "release him, Erisu, I can't get out until you do."

Then Yusha strained in Kakashi's hands and snarled, " _I'll kill you! I am the Head of_ _Izanagi-no-mikoto_ _! I am a God in flesh,_ _Yusha is gone now_ !"

Inoichi's body on the other side of the room jerked suddenly, mirroring Yusha's movements. Blood trickled from his closed eyes. Kakashi and Tenzō's eyes met.

"What's happening?" Shizune asked, face like snow, "that shouldn't be happening right?" She raced over to Inoichi and knelt at his side. Erisu was still sobbing, eyes pink and bloodied. Yusha and Inoichi's spines arched at an inhuman angle.

"Risu, what are you doing?" Kakashi called to her but she couldn't hear him, "Erisu that's enough."

" _The Body will reap the Elemental Nations and water the earth in their blood_!" Yusha growled, " _all will tremble before me_!" Inoichi's skin was laced with the same black, spidery veins as Erisu's leg. Yuma's Byakugan scanned the two Yamanaka men.

"This is wrong!" He shouted over Yusha's snarls and shrieks, "she's doing something to them! I-I don't know what..! This-this chakra..! Erisu-chan stop!"

"Erisu!" Kakashi yelled, "release them!" Erisu blinked and the men went limp. The room was plunged into instant silence.

Shizune shook Inoichi but he didn't respond. "He's still inside Yusha-san," she said in a hushed voice. She checked his pulse and breathing. Erisu staggered into Tenzō who supported her in his arms. He gave Kakashi a look that said everything. Erisu was in a genjutsu coma alongside Yusha and Inoichi.

Kakashi backed away from the unconscious boy and pulled his headband over his Sharingan. _No, this isn't happening_... "Inoichi will return to his body and tell us where Aya is," he assured the room at large. "How long does it take for Shintenshin no Jutsu to end?"

"Kakashi," Yuma began, "they need to get to the hospital. Erisu-chan needs to either wake up and release them or move at least on kilometre away from them. Otherwise they'll stay trapped in Yusha's nightmares."

Kakashi swept over to Tenzō and lifted Erisu into his arms. Her face was streaked with blood and her skin as hot and dry as volcanic rock. "Risu-chan," he whispered in her ear, "wake up." He jostled her but her head just lolled against her chest. "Shizune-san, get Inoichi and Yusha to ICU and tell the emerg doctors to induce hypothermia to help get them out of the comatose state. Tenzō I want you to stay with Yusha, don't leave his side. Do you understand?"

"Yes, senpai." He broke the wood away from Yusha and hoisted the boy into his back. Shizune supported Inoichi on her shoulders.

Kakashi braced himself for what came next. "Yuma, I leave Risu in your charge, make sure she's woken up, no matter what."

Yuma's brows knitted as Kakashi lowered Erisu into his old partner's arms. "What about you?"

"I'm needed in Tsunade-sama's office," Kakashi answered curtly. _Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong..._ Then he added in an undertone, "just keep her safe."

Shizune slipped out first, one of the door guards joining her to assist in supporting Inoichi. Tenzō hesitated long enough to give Kakashi an encouraging nod, then followed her out. Yuma stood motionless for a few moments in the blood spattered room, surrounded by chunks of splintered wood were scattered across the cracked, cement floor, then he cleared his throat and left without another word.

Kakashi remained for a short interval to compose himself. He had to put his mind on Sasuke now and the mission ahead. Casting one last look around the disarmed room, Kakashi swept into the dark corridor and slammed the iron door shut behind him.


	41. Chapter 39: Comatose

**CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE**

 _ **Comatose**_

 _(trigger warning)_

~Erisu~

Erisu didn't know where she was. There was no gravity, no inertia, no matter, only darkness. Suspended in the dark, weightless and motionless as she floated in the silence, she vaguely wondered what was happening. But it didn't really matter. It was warm here, safe, and there wasn't any pain. It was as if that fuzzy moment just before one passed into a deep sleep had become it's very own realm. A world that would forever be that fleeting moment of semi-consciousness, of lethargy, calm, and thoughtlessness...that moment one almost never remembers: falling asleep.

So why would she want to wake up?

"...Risu-chan..." The hushed voice rippled through the darkness like a breeze over water.

Erisu's eyes searched for the source of the whisper but there was only blackness. Her name wasn't Risu...who were they talking to? And who were _they_?

"...Remember how we first met? The fire...the carnage..." The darkness around her shuddered as a savage roar echoed through the void, the shadows suddenly hot on her skin. Fragments of a village wreathed in flame flickered through the dark, snippets of memory. "I saved you back then...I can save you now...run to me...follow my voice and come back to me...this way...now."

"Kakashi." She reached for the source of his voice but her hands were bound. Panic fluttered up from her gut to her throat, filling her body with squirming insects. _What's going on_?

Erisu seized up as pain shot through her leg, igniting her blood and burning through her muscles. She couldn't comprehend what was happening until she remembered that she was always in pain. She was suddenly as heavy as if she'd been carved from a block of lead, plummeting through the emptiness, spinning in the dark, eyes stretched wide and seeing nothing. Erisu landed with a shattering thud. It took a few moments to recover.

Then there was light. One at first, flickering into existence above, like red stars. Erisu struggled to her feet, confused by the new sensation of having substance. The lights were dim at first but steadily burned brighter until they lit up the empty streets. Abandoned stalls lined the road, meat sizzling as it turned on rotisserie spits, oddities and trinkets still on display. But there were no people. She was alone beneath the red lanterns that snaked above casting everything in an almost bloody hue.

Erisu's wrists clanked against her sides, rattling loudly. She looked down at her hands; they were shackled and bruised just like-

"Hey there, Imōto." Yusha stood in the desolate street before her in a resplendent emerald haori and hakama. His golden hair was up in an unshaven, chonmage top knot, long tendrils falling free at his temples and the back of his neck to frame a face that was glowing with youth and confidence, pristine and unmarked. It was as if he'd never been imprisoned. "Care for some music?" He twirled a handsome cherry wood cello on its endpin and grinned wanly.

"Yusha..." Erisu knew this was wrong but couldn't remember why. "Wh-where are we..?"

"Why don't you tell me?" He pressed the bow to the strings and drew a long melancholy sigh from the cello. "After all, it's your nightmare."

Erisu stared at him, too confused to even register his words. Yusha leaned into his instrument and dragged audible misery from the wood and strings. The sound reverberated through Erisu, reaching through her bones and into her marrow.

 _A nightmare_... Erisu turned in a circle, taking in the ethereal village, her long funeral kimono swishing as she moved. _Of course. My genjutsu must have rebounded... I'm in a coma_. Erisu knew what to do.

She folded her fingers together. "Release!" ...nothing happened.

Yusha cackled. "You're in too deep to dispel it," he said in his most patronizing voice, "your body is currently in a vegetative state. You can't channel your chakra! Honestly, and they say _you_ were the brightest student in your year?" He snorted.

Erisu eyed him suspiciously. This wasn't the real Yusha, only a shade, an aspect of her own psyche taking his form to torment her... But nightmares were her forte, psychology was her pallet, fear her paint, and the mind her canvas. She couldn't be harmed in her own realm. It was only a dream, and she was lucid.

"I can hear your little brain working away," Yusha sighed over the mournful melody, "rusty and grinding. Sounds like some of the gears are stuck or you would've figured it out already."

Erisu ignored the specter, staring past to examine how the street sloped down, slithering through the jade roofed houses to a lake of still black glass...Demon Lake.

"Yusha!" Erisu rounded on her brother with sudden alarm. "Why here? This was the best night of my life! It's not a nightmare!"

"You think so?" His cool green eyes lifted to hers, the same shape as her own with the same black lashes and minuscule pupils...Hakuchō eyes that were able to see every emotion, desire, and fear. He smirked, a wicked curve to his lips that told her he had vengeance on his mind. "Because he bought you candy? A stuffed toy? Let you play dress up and watch fireworks?"

Erisu glowered at him, knowing where he was heading.

"Poor little Risu-chan," Yusha jeered, "forced to learn just how evil people are. Rudely awakened into a premature adulthood, but still such a child inside. All you want to do is play pretend with your friend, right? Playing house and feigning maturity as some mock ninja."

"I _am_ a shinobi," she said fiercely, "I swore my loyalty to the Leaf and earned my badge of office, my forehead protector! _I've saved lives_!"

"Oh come on, Erisu. Wake up!" He rested his chin on the ornate cello scroll and pursed his lips with pity. "You 'saved' Yuma, did you? If you'd realized Hiroki's intentions from the start no one would have died at all. That squad of ninja that his accomplices slaughtered might've survived if you hadn't been too insecure to speak up."

"But-"

"You barely scraped the whole team out of there alive," he went on, "and jumping in front of a blade! Bravery or stupidity? You saw a chance to end your life before the curse did and you took it. That's all that was. You're not a hero, so stop deluding yourself."

"Enough!" Erisu snapped, bearing down on him. "I'm the Ninja of Nightmares, you think I don't know what this is? You're just a manifestation of my doubts and I'm not afraid of you!" She glared up at him as his smile simply grew wider and wider. His face was suddenly grotesque rather than handsome and Erisu realized she was seeing her brother clearly for the first time." _I am a shinobi_!"

"A shinobi, really?" He patted her head to remind her she was nothing but his kid sister. "Did you actually believe that staged ceremony and pantomimed pledge of allegiance was anything more than a game? Did you really think Kakashi and Tsunade see you as anything more than a lost little girl? They're humouring you, toying with you, and you know it."

"You're wrong!" Erisu snapped, "Tsunade-sama has given me what mother never did: a chance to grow to my full potential." Tears of fury were building up. "Kakashi-senpai believes in me! He saved my life in so many ways, he-"

"Loves you?" Yusha interrupted, "give me a break, Imōto."

"Don't call me that," she said sharply, "you're just in my head. You're not my brother." Yusha rolled his eyes and plucked at the cello's strings. "Yusha doesn't even know Kakashi. Yusha doesn't know any of the bullshit you're spewing!"

"Oh no?" The shade wasn't concerned by her anger. " _Yusha_ might've been observing you from afar for all you know. He is your big brother after all." He looked up, those hauntingly similar eyes making Erisu's skin crawl.

"I don't have time for this!" Erisu threw her shackled hands in the air and swished past the mirage of her brother, heading for the lake. "I need to wake up so I can help Kakashi-senpai save Rūka-kun and Emi-chan."

"He doesn't care about our siblings, Erisu," Yusha called after her but she determinedly kept walking. "He's only doing this because he wants mother's power. What did he say to Tsunade? ...it'll... What was it? Oh yes. 'Broaden our understanding of obscure jutsu. Think of what we could learn...'" Yusha tutted in mock disappointment. "Sounds to me like someone wants to know how to leech the life from their enemies by means of a parasitic curse. Who do you think he'd use it on? Your old pal Itachi maybe?" Erisu ignored him but his voice carried unnaturally far. "And if he gets in your pants along the way even more fun for him! You're just a naïve girl and some easy ass for him. He's using you, Erisu! You can't trust him; you can't trust anyone!"

Erisu hoisted up her black skirts as she started across the pebbly beach, noticing her ankles were connected by a long chain as well. If this was all the mental nightmare's coma had to throw at her Erisu was pretty sure she could handle it just fine.

 _All I have to do is break the jutsu and I'll wake up...I'll wake up and see Kakashi..._ She swept across the shore and onto the long dock, the wood cold and rough beneath her bare feet. She remembered how the fireworks had plumed up from the heart of the lake, their colours shattering across the water like sunlight in a crystal... She couldn't count how many times she'd wished she could be back here beneath the stars with Kakashi...

"I thought I'd find you here, Risu-chan..."

"So that's how this works then?" Erisu turned sharply, her kimono whipping around her as wind skated across the lake. "I think of someone and they appear? I thought of Yusha and he materialized in the street, I think of Kakashi-senpai and he pops into existence behind me?" She scoffed. "How quaint. I thought my nightmares would be less predictable. Don't you know that I'm hardest and cruelest with myself? There's nothing this jutsu can create that I haven't imagined and tortured myself with already."

Kakashi scratched his jaw, embarrassed and glanced around as if worried someone was eavesdropping. "What're you talking about?"

Erisu rolled her eyes and stalked boldly towards the apparition. He was maskless, in those classy black robes he'd worn at the festival and his forehead was bare. She loved the way his messy bangs fell in his eyes when they weren't held back. _It's just a dream._

"I'm ready to wake up," she said, "this is getting tiresome already and I don't want to play anymore."

"You want to leave the festival?" He eyed her dubiously. "But we haven't completed our-"

"Mission?" With a sigh, Erisu made to walk through him and slammed into a very solid, muscled chest. She stumbled backwards, tripping on her shackles, but he caught her by the small of her back.

"What was that?" He stabilized her and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Are you feeling okay? You're not going to faint are you?"

"No..." She withdrew from him as anxiety flooded her chest like a swarm of moths. "I'm fine." _He's so concrete... but he's not real! How is this happening?_

"The fireworks are about to start," he told her, extending a hand, "let's watch them together."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Erisu told him firmly, "you're not real; you're naught but an illusion."

He looked down at her as though he were seeing her for the first time and raised his eyebrows curiously. Erisu realized that he was dropping the act, approving of her deductions but then something changed. She shuffled nervously as his mismatched eyes roved over her body in an unsettling, almost hungry manner.

"Illusion?" He said calmly, "well, yeah. Of course it's not real. You, me, at the Kappa Festival once again...it's like a dream come true, isn't it?" He approached her with an unusual swagger in his step and stroked her face from cheekbone to jaw. Erisu's skin prickled at his touch. "But whether I'm a figment of your imagination or not, I wanted to see you," he told her in a low voice, "I missed you. Not even the most powerful genjutsu can keep me from you."

She cocked her head and inspected him more closely. He looked so real, so vivid. She could see the stitching in his inky black haori and the faintest hint of silver stubble along his jaw. But something seemed off about his face, his features were _too_ fine, his skin _too_ flawless. Hadn't there been the faintest dusting of freckles on the bridge of his nose and faint wrinkles under his eyes from smiling so much? Where were the shadows that betrayed his sleepless nights, the lines that marked his worries? She loved the creases and spots, scars and veins, they made him *real*. His face without flaws was a sky without stars, paper without ink. This was nothing more than a deception; the real Kakashi was in the waking world and he needed her assistance.

"...Risu-chan?" He searched her eyes with concern but she withdrew. He might look like Kakashi but this silver-haired phantom was nothing more than a photophore being dangled before her in the dark, meant to lure her into the jaws of the angler fish. She wouldn't be drawn into this trap.

"I'm fine, thanks." She brushed his hands away as he reached for her and swept past him, back up the bank. Maybe if she left the village the spell would break. Kakashi caught her by the hip; she froze. The touch was so tender, so intimate and natural, as if holding her like this was second nature to him. The feeling was like a gasping breath after being underwater. She needed to be close to him. For a brief, throbbing heartbeat she was won over and tempted to let him sweep her away into her favourite memory.

...but why was the nightmare showing her the night she held as her most beloved dream? Something was very, very wrong...

Erisu was frozen, ice spreading through her veins as his fingers tightened uncomfortably. Then he pulled her roughly against him. She was too alarmed to resist.

"You're my pupil and I don't want to lose you." His eyes flashed strangely. "But, how close would _you_ say we are?" He asked her suggestively, "acquaintances, friends... _lovers_?" He leaned in to brush his lips over her cheekbone then whispered in her ear, "do you want to be my lover?"

Lost for words, Erisu looked up at him, wide eyed and confused. There was a sadistic gleam deep in his odd eyes that scared her. Kakashi slid his right hand over her hip and under the hem of her kimono. His fingers caressed her skin as they moved up her inner thigh. Regaining her senses, Erisu grasped his wrist in an attempt to stop him, but the struggle was useless against his strength.

"Why are you fighting me?" He said in an unrecognizable voice, "you want this don't you?"

Erisu spun around and slipped from his grasp. He caught her wrist as she dashed for the village, wrenching viciously on her arm. Her shoulder dislocated with a horrible _pop_. Kakashi flung her across the shore like a rag doll. Wood shattered as Erisu Erisu hit the wall of the Kappa Shrine and she slumped onto the pebbles, winded. Before she could catch her breath Kakashi was upon her, forcing her back to her feet and thrusting himself against her, pressing her hard against the shrine. He squeezed her cursed thigh, making her choke on a yelp of pain as he tangled his other hand in her hair.

"Look at you," he said excitedly, "so dainty, so... _fragile_. I bet you're a virgin too, aren't you?"

Her eyes snapped to his. He noticed the significant eye contact and laughed wryly.

"What?" He jeered, "you thought I didn't know? Little Risu-chan: almost twenty and too scared to let a man into her bed. It's because of what your stepdad did to you, isn't it?" He pulled her head back by the hair, breaking the skin of her scalp in the process, and kissed her throat. "So scared to open up but so desperate to be touched. You want it, don't you? Want to know what it _feels_ like."

His right hand snapped her lace panties off effortlessly and she choked back a scream. This was Kakashi, calm, respectful Kakashi! Erisu couldn't comprehend what was happening. _It's just a nightmare, a nightmare_...

The shinobi pressed his mouth viciously against hers and kissed her with a cannibalistic passion. She struggled against him furiously, but he held her in an iron grip as he ground against her body. He pulled away suddenly and glared at her with utmost contempt.

"I was under the impression that you were in love with me," he said coldly, "was this not what you've always wanted?"

"I..." Erisu swallowed hard, then found her voice, "no."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "no _what_?"

She tried to pull away but he simply hoisted her onto his hips and pressed himself hard between her legs. It was like the archives but... _so wrong_. She bit her lip and blinked back tears. She did love him, insurmountably so...

"Kakashi," she whispered, unable to look at him, " _please_..." The searing pain in her shoulder had her in tears.

He scoffed and caught her by the throat. Erisu gasped like a fish out of water and clawed at his fingers which only tightened. He pushed his face in close to hers, those eyes that had always made her feel so valuable and beautiful now stripped her to the bone.

"Why did you think I took you on as my pupil?" His voice was so alien it caused the tears to overflow. "You thought I saw your potential? Thought I was impressed?" He shoved her further up the wall of the shrine and cracked her head against the wood. She could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears, her head light and empty as she started to fade. Then her threw to the ground, her body slamming against the hard surface, she was momentarily stunned. He strode towards her as she scrambled backwards but he caught her by her shackles.

He pinned her bound wrists above her head with one hand and tore open her kimono with the other. Panic consumed her as the reality of the situation sunk in and she screamed. Kakashi's face contorted with rage and he struck her, fracturing her cheekbone. Her vision pixilated and her ears rang as he shed his haori and undid his kosode. Tears blurred the smooth, white torso before her as he forced her legs apart. His fingers slid over her skin hungrily as she sobbed silently beneath him. _A nightmare, a nightmare_...

When she realized he was untying his hakama she kicked him with with all her strength. His Sharingan morphed as he caught her ankle, looked her dead in the eyes, and broke the bone. Pain shattered Erisu's body as the bone cracked in his hand, her scream drowned out by the roar of blood in her head.

"Will you _shut up_?" Kakashi shouted, clasping a hand around her neck again, silencing her screams into a gagged cry. She gasped vainly for air, writhing in terror. Her vision darkened and her face went cold as the blood drained from her head.

She was going to die; Kakashi was going to kill her.

Then there was a whistling sound and a jet of light leapt from the water's surface. It burst in a brilliant sphere of yellow sparks with a deafening _bang_ , causing Kakashi to release her. She gasped for air. His hair shone gold then red as another light, like glowing blood, dominated the sky. Then sparkling azure-explosions of colour in the night sky. Kakashi's hair gleamed in the neon hues beneath the light show as he shoved her knees further apart and forced his way in.

 **Bang**

The fireworks muted her screaming as he broke her. The pain was indescribable but the shame and fear was more agonizing than the act itself. The lake reflected the fire in a mosaic of light, the sound of the exploding fireworks still echoing across its surface.

 **Bang**

He bit her. Not tenderly and erotically but viscous, drawing blood. His breath was as fresh as mint, his teeth sharp as kunai. All the while that horrible pinwheel eye bore into her, predicting her every struggle and preventing her escape before she could attempt it.

 **Bang**

The sound was like a battlefield. Erisu was aware of Kakashi's fingers violating her, his cruel eyes mirroring the light show. She'd become an object, devoid of rights or emotions, and he'd become a monster. He was defiling her and robbing her of her of her dignity.

"Remember that little offer you made to me so long ago?" Kakashi whispered in her ear as he assaulted her, "'Is there anything I can do, sensei?' You asked me, 'anything to assist you?'" His eyes curved into that familiar smile that was somehow completely unrecognizable. "Well, you're mine now... _indubitably_."

 **Bang**

Erisu stopped struggling, limp and defeated, she simply stated at him blankly. _It's not real. Just a nightmare_.


	42. Chapter 40: Facing One's Demons

**CHAPTER FOURTY**

 _ **To Face One's Demons**_

~Kakashi~

He'd done everything, _everything,_ and still failed. Kakashi braced himself against the wall and swallowed his emotion like bile. This was no time to wallow in regret. Erisu was beyond his help at the moment. Naruto and Sakura needed him now, _Sasuke_ needed him. He needed to fulfill his duty as a jōnin, a Taichou, a sensei. Naruto needed him most during this time of confusion and uncertainty, needed him to be that calm and reliable figure that was as steadfast and unbreakable as Hokage mountain. He owed the boy that much and owed it to Minato as well.

Naruto was frightened and angry, like a cornered beast, lashing out at everyone around him. Kakashi had been able to give him the reassurance he'd needed to hear: an effective strategy, the company of friends, and the support of his sensei. The boy strutted past as those thoughts crossed Kakashi's mind and the copy ninja tugged up his mask instinctively to hide his own anxieties.

"We're going to get ready Kakashi-sensei," Naruto told him with determination gleaming in his bright blue eyes that were identical to his father's, "I think Grandma Tsunade wanted to talk to you though." Kakashi's stomach sank like a fishing weight.

"Oh yeah, thanks." He gave the teenagers a lazy salute. "I'll see you soon." Sakura met Kakashi's gaze meaningfully. She'd probably heard about the hospitalization of Inoichi and the others through Ino or Shizune and if she hadn't it was only a matter of time before she did. He slowed her with a tap on the shoulder as she passed him. She stopped and let the others continue down the corridor, Kiba and Naruto's chatter fading as the four youth rounded a corner.

"What is it, sensei?" Her face was set, resigned to capturing her beloved Sasuke... She'd been so insecure and absent minded when she was first assigned to him, it was astounding to see how strong she'd become.

"There has been an incident and a few people have been hospitalized," he told her calmly, "you will undoubtedly know about it sooner rather than later and I want to request that you don't share what you learn with Naruto."

Her seafoam eyes widened in concern. "What happened?" So she hadn't heard.

"It's not overly serious but it might confuse Naruto further and he doesn't need that right now," Kakashi explained rather quickly, "I'm only bringing it up because of your connections with those involved."

"Does it involve Hakuchō-san?" She was too sharp for her own good.

"There'll be time to discuss it after Itachi is in custody, understand?"

Sakura hesitated, debating whether or not to argue, then she dipped her head. "Yes, sir."

"Good." He patted her pink hair. "Dismissed." She receded and Kakashi prepared himself for what came next. He exhaled slowly and sauntered back into Tsunade's office. Shizune stood beside the Hokage's desk, pasty and anxious. Jiraiya was leaning against a nearby window with his head bowed.

"Kurenai's team was a good choice," Tsunade said in greeting, "you really have been busy today, haven't you?"

Kakashi came to a halt before her desk and plunged his hands into his pockets, feeling like a child in detention. He said nothing.

"Shizune filled me in on what happened." She rubbed her temple wearily. "You do understand the seriousness of your actions?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"You bribed Anko, deceived Inoichi, lied to your colleagues by using falsified orders to torture Yusha and forged my signature. Then you drugged a prisoner vital to the mission without my permission and caused all three essential sources of information to lapse into a coma." She took a deep, trembling breath, barely containing her fury. "Explain yourself!"

"Hakuchō Yusha was not going to give us the location of The Body of Inazagi from interrogation alone," Kakashi told her professionally, "all those present would comply with that assertion. So I evaluated the situation and concluded that more *enhanced* interrogation techniques were called for. You yourself did say that Morino Ibiki-san would be called in if Yusha didn't break."

"I understand that well enough..." Tsunade sat down on her desk and covered her face in her hand. "...but _why_ did you trick Inoichi?" She genuinely wanted to know. "he's our ally, and a superior in the field! If you needed Ibiki-san's assistance you could have at least kept Inoichi present! He could have helped! Have you forgotten already that it was _his_ assistance that found Yusha to begin with?"

 _There is no going back_. "He was hindering the investigation," Kakashi answered honestly, "he wouldn't have let us do what needed to be done. His emotions were controlling him."

Jiraiya laughed aloud, shaking his wild, white mane in disbelief. " _Inoichi_ was being controlled by his emotions?" He sauntered over and leaned in close to Kakashi's face. "Are you certain it wasn't someone else who'd let himself get irrational?"

Kakashi narrowed his grey eye to slit. Cold-blooded Kakashi controlled by his emotions? "I never once let my relationship with Erisu prevent me from taking the necessary actions to save her life. Even if that meant torturing her brother."

"Yes. We noticed," Tsunade said dryer than rice paper. She looked over at her assistant. "Shizune, would you inform Yamato of the plan? I believe he's on guard duty at the hospital." Shizune bowed and departed immediately.

"Tsunade, maybe you should go too," Jiraiya said though his dark, slanted rues stayed on Kakashi. "You should be at the hospital resuscitating those caught in Erisu-chan's genjutsu. I can handle the rest from here."

Tsunade regarded her old comrade for a long moment before nodding slowly. "Very well, Jiraiya." She headed for the door. "I leave Kakashi to you then."

An uncomfortable silence settled in the large round room as Tsunade closed the door behind her. Jiraiya's eyes didn't stray from Kakashi's masked face and the younger man scratched his jaw nervously. He thought he knew what was coming next.

"You need to go to her."

The copy ninja looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Go to Erisu-chan," Jiraiya said, "they say people in a coma can still here those around them. She's trapped in her worst nightmares right now, I think she would benefit from hearing your voice."

"What...what about my punishment?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "I know you Kakashi. I trained Minato and he trained you so I guess I'm kind of like your grandfather, aren't I? You're not a spontaneous individual, not usually. You think things out, observe, strategize. I don't think you would've tortured Yusha-san unless you truly believed it to be unavoidable." He clasped a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "The problem is it *was* avoidable."

"I considered everything else," Kakashi objected, "it was the only way to make him talk. Ibiki-san's success rate is unprecedented-"

"But it failed."

Kakashi stared at him. "We were interrupted..."

"You know as well as I that Yusha would've fallen unconscious before betraying his mother." Jiraiya turned and strolled over to the window where he clasped his hands behind his back and gazed out at the village. "Erisu-chan was the only one who could get that information from him. You knew that before you injected the serum, before you called in Morino-san, before you bribed Anko, before you even left the archives."

Kakashi bowed his head, lost for words.

"I know why you didn't ask Erisu-chan to use her jutsu on her brother yourself," Jiraiya continued, "you didn't want to put her through that. You'd rather have her hate you for extracting the information yourself than watch her feel her brother's pain and fear as if it were her own. You were being kind."

"Jiraiya-sama..." Kakashi began.

"But that was stupid."

"Stupid..?"

"It's okay to be angry with her Kakashi, but pushing her away and going behind her back is not."

"Angry with _Risu-chan_?" Kakashi started forward. "She's innocent. It was Rokurou that abused her, Yusha that abandoned her, Aya that cursed her-"

"And it was _Erisu_ who lied to you." The Sage turned to face him again, his eyes so understanding it was unnerving. "Erisu kept the secret of her curse from you, refused to tell you about who cast it, and shut you out." He headed towards the jōnin, his wooden sandals loud on the floor. "Erisu was perfectly content to die and leave you alone." He halted in front of Kakashi and gazed down at him steadily. "Just like the White Fang."

"My father has nothing to do with this-"

"And just like Obito. Rin. Minato and Kushina." Jiraiya stooped to look Kakashi directly in the eye. "And just like Sasuke." Kakashi held his gaze stoically. "You value teamwork, comradeship, above all else...and yet you're always left alone in the end. You're a wolf without a pack. Whether you realize it or not, Kakashi, you've got a curse of your own."

"A curse?" He echoed.

"Loneliness."

Kakashi dropped his eye to stare at the polished hardwood floor. He knew the Sage was right but that was no comfort. Everyone in his life was just passing through, never really staying. He remembered what he'd said to Sasuke...that everyone he ever loved was dead, that his comrades could help fill the void...but no one ever remained for long. They all had their own lives to lead. Gai had his responsibility to Lee and the others, Tenzō was devoted entirely to his work, Sakura was under the tutelage of Tsunade and striving to grow strong and independent enough to no longer need to depend on Naruto, and Naruto himself had to overcome the Kyūbi and save Sasuke...

He didn't resent them, on the contrary he full-heartedly wanted them to succeed in their goals and aspirations and yet... Why had he taken on Erisu as a pupil in the first place? He'd already been tasked with gathering Intel on the Akatsuki and was expected to become captain of a team upon Naruto's return and still he wanted her. Wanted her to help fill the void...but she was to be lost to him as well. If not from her curse than from his own actions driving her away.

"She's a good one, y'know?" Jiraiya grinned at Kakashi's surprise. "Yeah, of course you were thinking about her! It's written all over your face! ...or at least all that I can see of your face."

"I'm not angry with her," Kakashi told him quietly, "I'm just..." He sighed. "She was-"

"Your deliverance," he finished for him, "I know." Jiraiya's smile faded. "A woman like that...well, she's one of a kind. Trust me when I say that there will never be another like her. You know she doesn't want to die and you know she loves you. She'd be with you if you'd let her. But if you turn down that road, if you go where she can't follow..." His eyes clouded. "...when you come back she'll be lost to you forever."

"I don't ever intend on leaving her," Kakashi insisted.

"Of course you don't! But your judgement is misguided and your determination to save her might be the very thing that makes you lose her."

"What do you mean?"

"She's going to pull through," Jiraiya said with complete certainty, "you know she will. That girl's as tough as nails! All I'm saying is make sure you're there when she wakes up." Those sharp black eyes held so much pain and regret in that moment that Kakashi was suddenly aware of how little he actually knew about the Sannin. "She's going to need you, Kakashi, before the end...don't let that one get away." Then the old man swept past, giving Kakashi a final pat on the back as he went.

"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi called after him, "what about my punishment?"

"There's more to being a ninja than rules and regulations, am I right?" He waved over his shoulder. "Keep an eye on Naruto for me, will you?" And Kakashi was alone again.

* * *

"Senpai!" Tenzō stiffened as Kakashi rounded the corner.

"Yo, Tenzō!" Kakashi pocketed his book even though he hadn't registered a word on the page. "How's our patient?"

"I told you to call me-" Tenzō gave up with a weary sigh. "Still unconscious. Tsunade-sama says he and the others are all in a very powerful trance. She doesn't want to try and release it in case the shock causes further damage."

Kakashi made a noncommittal noise and peered through the wired glass window. His eye narrowed to a slit of hatred. _Why not cause more damage to that scum?_ "And the others?"

"There's been talk of relocating Erisu-san in an attempt to break the jutsu's hold on her relatives. However..."

"What?" Kakashi continued staring at Yusha's dilapidated shape on the bed.

"Yuma-san is..."

Kakashi faced Tenzō with rapidly increasing unrest. " _What_?"

"He's most adamant that he remains by Erisu-san's side at all times." A thin layer of perspiration was forming on Tēnzo's face but Kakashi didn't care. "He has ignored direct orders from the Hokage herself to join the Akatsuki Search Mission."

"Where is he?"

"With Erisu-san-"

" _Where_?"

"Room 307..."

Kakashi turned his face back to the hospital room window and closed his eye. _I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama, but there's no turning back. I must see this through_.

"...you'll go to her, won't you?" Tenzō asked uncertainly, "before departing?"

Kakashi sighed in resignation. "It's time."

~Erisu~

The lake rippled against the stony beach, whispering over sand and stone. The fireworks were nothing more than lingering clouds of smoke that blocked out the stars as Erisu gazed blindly upward. She could taste blood where her lip had been split and could barely see through her left eye as it shut down. Breathing in the mingled scents of forest and smoke, Erisu rolled over, eyes streaming, and stared at her broken ankle. It was twisted at an unnatural angle and swelling rapidly, red finger marks already starting to bruise. She struggled onto all fours, limbs trembling, and collapsed back onto the pebbles. Her shaking arms succeeded in pushing her to her knees on the third try and she retched. Panting and dry heaving she found the courage to stand, careful not to put her full weight on her broken ankle. She leaned heavily against the splintered shrine and caught her breath.

A flash of movement caught Erisu's eye and she turned to face the tree line. A tiny little girl with her long mass of cascading, golden curls tied at the tips with crimson ribbon and her pleated hakama skirts as red as a Sharingan. The breeze that flowed from Demon Lake made the long sleeves of her pure white haori dance and stirred her pale hair. She was so familiar, like a forgotten memory...

The little girl vanished into the trees like a will-o'-the-wisp and Erisu stumbled after her. The shock had set in and her foot no longer existed as far as her brain could understand. The forest was dark and twisted, that very same labyrinth in which she'd first seen Kakashi's face. But where was the little girl?

Then Erisu saw her: she was standing on her tip toes, posed like some sort of music box dancer on a precipice that overhung the frothing brown river.

With that waist long, silver blonde waterfall of ringleted hair and floaty white blouse she was a spitting image of Erisu at seven years old...but then she turned and her large feline eyes were a deep cerulean blue like the northern ocean, her skin as white as a glacier.

" _Emi_..." Erisu struggled towards her sister, the sister who could be her twin if not for the vast age gap. "No...what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," her sister answered, gazing vaguely through her, "I had a nightmare."

"No..." Erisu whispered again. " _No, please, no_... You're his biological daughter, he wouldn't-" Erisu steadied herself with a trembling breath. "What did he do?"

"He was in my room again," she whispered, "mum said I was lying."

She'd said precisely those words to her own elder sibling. Erisu swallowed hard. "I believe you."

Emi's eyes shone with hopeful tears as she stared unblinkingly at her elder sister. "Truly?"

"Truly."

"Then..." Emi landed on the forest floor, her bare feet soundless on the fallen leaves. "...why did you abandon me?"

Erisu closed her eyes, unable to bear the fear and betrayal that was all too familiar. _What have I done_? "It was to protect you," she said tremulously, "m-mother said no harm would come to you and Rūka if I kept my silence and after what I did to your father I...I couldn't stay there, Emi-chan. He was going to rape me."

Emi tilted her head inquisitively, her gleaming locks swaying with the movement. "You mean like Kakashi did?"

Erisu regained control of herself in an instant. She was letting the jutsu win by interacting with her worst fears. If she hoped to escape she must let those phobias go. Autophobia, Genophobia and...Atychiphobia. She was so afraid that she'd failed her sensei, her Hokage, her comrades, her siblings. But not anymore. She wasn't going to let this nightmare break her. She had night terrors every night and had faced true horrors in the waking world.

"I'm coming for you," Erisu told the dainty little girl, "you and Rūka both. I will destroy The Body once and for all and keep you safe. I swear to it, by the blood in our veins and by the honour of a true shinobi of The Leaf. I'm coming for you."

Emi smiled softly, a sweet yet sorrowful smile. "Promise?"

"I promise." Erisu reached towards her sister but the girl flickered and blurred. Those large, eerie blue eyes burning into Erisu.

"He's coming..." Emi whispered, "I can't maintain the jutsu for much longer but I'll see you when you wake up, Oneesan. You promised you'd save me..." She flickered again and the forest was momentarily changed. For a single heartbeat it was a village blanketed in snow. "...I'll try...contact you again...you promised..."

"Wha-wait..!" Erisu staggered forward, her eyes stretched wide with horror. "...n-no! Emi-chan!"

"Please hurry...the ritual...happen soon..." Emi glanced over her shoulder and the village crackled into view again. The massive silhouette of a man was making his way through the snow towards them.

"Oh my sun and stars..." Erisu's voice shattered, "you're _real_."

A distorted voice echoed through the dream, summer one second winter the next. "Emi-hime~?" The voice was gravelly and sickeningly sweet. Erisu's blood froze solid in her veins. "Sweetie, what're you doing~? You'll catch your death out here..."

Emi looked back at Erisu, her cerulean eyes crystallizing into pastel pink. "...promise-" then she flickered out and was gone.

Erisu choked and stumbled through the leaves and grass to the spot her sister had been. It wasn't possible...how? Her breaths were coming fast and shallow, gasping but taking in nothing. _It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare_... She touched the earth where Emi had stood, tracing the tiny footprints with her fingertips. _A nightmare_...

" **Emi-chan! _No_!** "

Erisu sat up suddenly, soaked in cold sweat, restrained and terrified. She writhed wildly in the film that bound her, mad with terror. Rokurou had Emi, he was going to do the same to her that he did to Erisu! She had to get back to her now!

" _Woah_!" Strong arms enveloped her and pulled her thrashing body against a broad chest. "Hey, hey! Erisu-chan! You're okay! I've got you!"

Erisu buried her face into the fern green flack jacket and bawled pathetically. "He has her!" She sobbed, "he has Emi-chan!" A hand stroked her back soothingly but she didn't even notice. "He's going to-to perform some sort of-of-of ritual on her! I-I have to-I have to-"

"Calm down," he said softly, his face in her hair, "it was just a dream."

"No it wasn't!" Erisu punched the vest furiously. "I mean it was-with the fireworks and the cello-but then it wasn't! She was _there_ , she was _real_! I-I don't know how she did it but...but...I have to save her!"

"Erisu-chan, look at me." She looked up at a pair of pupiless, thistle white orbs. "You're safe."

"I-I..." She blinked groggily. "Taichou?"

Yuma smiled and gently eased her out of his arms and back onto the bed. "Yeah, that's right."

"But where's Kakashi?" She looked around, eyes stretched wider than if they'd been sewn open. "What is this? Where am I?"

"A Hyūga training base outside the village," he explained, "I brought you here on Tsunade's orders."

"But Yusha, Inoichi-" she looked up at the dark haired man in utmost confusion. "Why aren't I at the hospital? The coma-"

"We had to move you away from your uncle and brother to break your jutsu. Shizune came with me to provide medical care."

"Thank you for looking after me but..." She looked around at the sleek paneled walls and Spartan decor. "...where's Kakashi-senpai?"

"He's leading a special search mission to locate and capture Itachi," Yuma told her, "he left you in my charge."

"He...left me." Erisu stared at the flat grey blanket. "Why are they after Itachi-senpai? No, sorry, obvious. To lure out Sasuke-san." She mulled this over. The real Kakashi had been her initial motivation to wake and although she completely understood why he wasn't present it still left her feeling...abandoned. She pushed that aside. Her fears would no longer control her. The nightmare would not defeat her. "And my brother? My uncle?" She prompted. "Have they regained consciousness?"

"We're waiting for word on that front." Yuma stood and tossed his long hair over his shoulder with a flick of his head. "You've only been here for a couple hours. To be honest I'm surprised you woke up so soon."

"Listen to me," Erisu said urgently, "it's never been more important for us to locate The Body. I must get back to Konohagakure. Now that I'm awake I can release Inoichi from the genjutsu and find out what he learned."

Yuma grinned. "I'm glad to hear that you're finally ready to take part in saving your life!"

"What? No." Erisu shook her head vigorously. "I'm irrelevant-"

"Erisu-chan-"

" _Listen_!" She snapped and he stared at her in surprise. "While I was in the jutsu my sister contacted me. I'm not sure how but she managed to access my dream." He opened his mouth but she spoke over him. " _She was real_. Nightmares are my specialty I can tell the difference between an apparition and external contact. Emi tried to warn me. My stepfather is harming her, just as I feared and she said..." Erisu racked her brains. "She said to hurry, that the ritual would happen soon. That can mean several different things. It may have been a simple ritual of communication with Inizagi, though from her distress I think not. It may also be that they plan on placing a ritualistic curse like my own on another, possibly Emi herself, Aya does love to control her children with fear. But I believe they intend to summon the god sooner than initially planned, likely because they learned of Yusha's capture, possibly because the curse is killing me faster than we think. Regardless of which is true it is apparent that we must stop them. Emi and Rūka are not safe. It is possible that Aya knows that my secret is out and is no longer holding to the terms of our agreement or she never intended to spare them in the first place. But _I_ _must save my siblings_."

Yuma took a thousand years to understand all that he'd heard. Finally he said, "you got all that from a dream?"

"I'm a Hakuchō," Erisu said dismissively, "gathering information from nightmares is kinda our thing."

"And your sister, the...seven year old, spoke to you through your jutsu to warn you about a ritual to resurrect a god."

"Don't say it like that," she said impatiently, "you need to trust my judgement. I was right about the late Hiroki, wasn't I? Please, just get me back to Konoha so I can wake my uncle."

Yuma paced across the room and Erisu noticed that his forehead was bare, the green Hyūga seal visible on his ivory skin.

"What if it was Hinata-san?" He turned suddenly at those words as she knew he would. "If you learned she was being...harmed by her father and only you could save her. What would you do then, Taichou?"

"You're using your freaky mind games on me, aren't you?" He shook his head. "Alright, I'll talk to Shizune about heading back to the village but I think you're still too weak to travel."

Erisu analyzed him. His hair was disheveled and his kimono wrinkled. Dark circles were appearing beneath his pale eyes and his sandals were still on. "You haven't left my beside..." Erisu wasn't sure how to feel about that and felt Yuma's embarrassment press in on her.

"You must think I'm a fool." He sighed and seated himself at the foot of her bed. "Kiyomi and Sota do."

"How do you mean?"

"Pining over another man's woman. Worrying about her even though she's not mine." He looked straight into Erisu and his Byakugan pulsated. "But your chakra...its unlike any I've ever seen."

"Yuma-senpai..." She began nervously.

"Not the corrupted energy stemming from your curse but your natural chakra..." He extended a hand towards her and Erisu felt her heart rate accelerate. "It's so clear, so pure...like your body courses with light." He brushed a lose strand of hair from Erisu's face and she lost it.

" _Don't touch me_!" She shrieked, scrabbling away. " _Don't you ever touch me_!"

"Erisu-chan! Wh-what?" Yuma leapt to his feet. "What's wrong? I wasn't going to hurt you!"

But Erisu was deaf. The fireworks were exploding in her head and her body was lighter than air as she moved like a flash to escape him. He caught her just above the knee, his mouth was moving but she barely even recognized him. Her heel connected with his jaw and the bone cracked. Then Shizune was there with a needle and everything went black.

~Kakashi~

It was a ruin. Desolated. The black flames burned steadily through the downpour, destroying everything they touched, devouring the forest. The Uchiha crest, that appropriate image of a fan to strengthen the fiery nature of the clan, was emblazoned on a cracked slab of stone and smeared in blood. The paint was brilliant and glistening as water streamed over it. Kakashi stared down at the spot where Sasuke had lain moments before, breathing the lingering smell of his hair, sweat, and blood through his mask. If they hadn't been delayed by that Akatsuki in the spiral mask...

"There's still a trace of their scent but..." Kiba bowed his head in defeat.

If they had only been faster...but now...Itachi was dead. Sasuke was gone. The trail was cold and the mission had failed.

Rain ran over Kakashi's face. "We're too late..."

"Naruto..."

The boy placed his hand on the emblem and although his back was turned Kakashi knew he was crying.

* * *

Blue lightning ripped through bark and wood, shattering the trunk in two. With a shuddering smash the tree collapsed in a shower of leaves and branches. muddy water sprayed over the rocky landscape and stained his white cloak brown.

" _He was right there_!" Kakashi drove his raikiri into a massive boulder and it crumbled like gravel. " _Right there_!" The electricity enveloped him like a cloak and he charged headlong into the remains of a forgotten rockslide. Smashing though the rubble and wrecking the landscape like a force of nature.

"S-Senpai..!" Tenzō eased the tree's roots back into the earth, his eyes like saucers. Rage like this was never to be seen from Hatake Kakashi. "The Akatsuki got to him first but we collected lots of valuable information on Sasuke and his new team! Deidara and Itachi are both dead and therefore no longer threats. Kabuto-san gave us a oldmine of intel on the Akatsuki. We learned the secret to the masked man's jutsu and that there is another living Uchiha-"

"I know." Kakashi slumped to the ground amidst the chaos. "I know...but I wasn't even needed. I didn't accomplish anything."

"You were our leader!' He said in exasperation, "you organized an incredibly effective team, directed us in combat, and your ninken tracked Sasuke-san's location impeccably."

Kakashi looked up at his old comrade with an eye of silver ice. "Any ninken trainer could've filled in," he said, "Sasuke is still lost."

"Kakashi." His voice was sharp. "Snap out of it. That's self pity and its beneath you."

"Tenzō..."

"It's 'Yamato'," he snapped, "now get up and get your ass back to Konoha."

"But..."

"You're not weak." He yanked Kakashi to his feet roughly. "If you want someone to hug you and tell you it'll all be okay you should go see Gai-san. I won't tolerate this. Get your act together! There's work to be done!"

"Ten-Yamato..." Kakashi gripped his hand tightly. He'd said exactly what he needed to hear. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me," he answered with a crooked smile, "I still need to get you back to Erisu-san in one piece."

Kakashi nodded. "Let's collect the others." He looked up at the steel grey sky. "They won't be able to follow his scent...that Uchiha would've teleported Itachi and Sasuke with his space warp jutsu. But...I had to let Naruto and Sakura see it through to the end."

"I don't know if that was kind or cruel," Tenzō admitted, "but I understand your reasoning."

Kakashi adjusted his sodden cloak and stared into the darkening woods. "...let's go."

* * *

"Kakashi!"

"Inoichi-san!" Kakashi stopped midstep as Ino pushed her father's wheelchair into view. "You're awake?"

"Erisu-chan released the jutsu a few hours ago but Tsunade-sama says that father is still too weak to walk independently," Ino explained. Tenzō was shocked but Kakashi merely nodded.

"Erisu-san released him?" Tenzō exclaimed, "but how did she come out of her coma?!"

"I think it's best you hear that from her," Inoichi said in a hoarse voice, "she's with Tsunade-sama in the Hokage Residence."

"Thank you," Kakashi replied politely with a short bow, "and Yusha?"

"No longer in the jutsu but still under medical sedation as a safety precaution."

"I see." Kakashi glanced at his companion. "Well, Yamato? Are you coming with me?" He watched Tenzō panic at the unusual invitation and almost smiled.

"E-eto..." His thickly lined eyes darted between the three shinobi before finally coming to rest on Kakashi. "Y-yes, senpai."

"Good." Kakashi waved at the Yamanakas. "Thanks again."

"Kakashi..." Inoichi's voice was grimmer than he'd ever heard it before. "I'm willing to overlook your rash decisions earlier in light of what I learned from my nephew and because I know you were only acting with your student's well being in mind, but before you go..."

Kakashi fixed him with an eye of molten mercury.

"...what do you know about onmyōji and shikigami?"


	43. Chapter 41: To Kill A God

**CHAPTER FORTY-ONE**

 _ **To Kill A God**_

~Erisu~

Tsunade folded her arms and scanned Erisu dubiously. She cast a suspicious eye over Yuma then pursed her lips. "I don't claim to be well versed in the mechanics of the Hakuchō's Kekkai Genkei but what you're saying..." She trailed off uncertainly.

"Ohime-sama, please." Erisu clapped her hands together pleadingly and leaned forward in her wheelchair. "My siblings and I are not only of Hakuchō descent but our grandfather was a Yamanaka, and a powerful one at that. If Yusha possesses Mind Transfer Jutsu I don't see why Emi-chan couldn't."

"That is logically sound," Tsunade allowed, "but as Inoichi-san learned from your brother, your sister is in the Land of Iron. To project her consciousness over that distance-it's unheard of!"

"Could she have used Erisu-chan's Mental Nightmare as some sort of beacon?" Yuma suggested, "something she could hone in on?"

"While that's an intriguing hypothesis, Hyūga-san, it is only speculation." She seated herself at her desk with a huff. "It's very likely that Erisu's 'vision' of her sister was merely a trick of the jutsu. It's supposed to make you endure your worst fears, is it not?"

"That's right." Erisu wheeled herself forward and held the Hokage's gaze fearlessly. "Losing my siblings is my worst fear and if we get to the village to find them dead it will quite plainly destroy me." She pushed hard on the armrests and forced herself to stand. "If Emi and Rūka are harmed because I failed to respond to my sister's plea for help..." She took an unsteady step forward. "...if Emi is molested, if Rūka is beaten...if they have been cursed or possessed, I will kill The Body, burn their village, and seal everyone involved into a nightmare with no end!" The Hokage's eyes glimmered but she didn't blink. "I made a promise, Tsunade-hime, a _promise_. If I was to to have a god it would be my word, my _vow_ , to my sister, my brother, my sensei...and to myself. I will protect my loved ones with my life! _That's my ninja way_!" Erisu struggled across the room and placed her hands on the Hokage's desk. "I _will_ save my siblings and put an end to the evil of The Body! I just want to know if I'll be doing it alone or if you're willing to help me."

~Kakashi~

"Shikigami..?" Kakashi and Tenzō exchanged a foreboding look. "A kami?"

Inoichi nodded gravely. "When I was in Yusha-kun's mind I discovered that there was another consciousness present."

Kakashi leaned against the wall to process this. "We suspected that might be the case," he said heavily, "he spoke in a different voice while under Erisu's genjutsu. He called himself 'the Head of Izanagi-sama', claimed that Yusha was gone, and said The Body would reap the Elemental Nations."

"I know." Inoichi ran his fingers over the bandages that bound his head. He'd sustained a concussion when Yusha smashed his head against the metal chair. "But that entity is not a god. I think it's a spirit that was invoked by Aya and then took possession of Yusha's body. A being such as that would require a very complex summoning ritual and a spiritual tie to a living human."

"To Aya?" Tenzō wondered.

"To Erisu."

Kakashi jerked upright. " _Risu_?" He struggled to keep his voice even. "Explain."

"Yusha's memories had valuable information but I'm not sure he understood everything he'd witnessed, I'm not even sure he's aware that there's a shikigami living inside him. But there were conversations with his mother where she spoke of using the "energy of the people to make Izanagi corporeal'."

"She really is trying to resurrect a god..." Tenzō shook his head in blatant astonishment.

"And she's sapping Erisu's life force to feed this spirit?" Kakashi chuckled derisively. "Mother of the year."

"So..." Tenzō scratched his jaw thoughtfully. "If we were to destroy this spirit would that lift Erisu-san's curse?"

Kakashi watched Inoichi closely as he answered. "I'm not sure. Yusha's knowledge on the ritual and the spirit is very limited. Only Aya could tell us whether that would actually work and she might not even know."

"What do you mean she might not know?"

"There's the possibility that Aya might believe that what she conjured is in fact Izanagi..."

"But, father," Ino said sceptically, "she'd have to be insane to actually believe she could summon and tether a god!"

Inoichi sighed. "Your aunt is unfortunately and undoubtedly insane, Ino." He looked up at Kakashi with dark real eyes that overflowed with sorrow. "If I'd have known what my sister was doing...I wouldn't have rested until those children, all four of them, were away from their mother."

"Father, it's not your fault!" Ino wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his hair. "You've always shown Erisu and the others nothing but love!"

"Your daughter's right," Kakashi told him, "you had no way of knowing the sickness of your sister's mind."

"No..." His eyes focused on the floor. "...I knew. I just pretended she was paranoid and eccentric. Pretended she wasn't dangerous... I've seen enough minds to recognize denial. I wanted to believe that she'd get better." He sighed bitterly. "And that monster she shares a bed with..." His eyes burned with malice. "I should've killed him when I had the chance."

"That would've only put you in prison," Tenzō said reasonably, "let's just focus on what we can do now."

"I expect you've told the Hokage everything you've learned?" Kakashi pocketed his hands.

"I told her where The Body is and that I suspect my nephew was possessed but I only just started to theorize that it's a kami and that its Erisu's spirit that the shikigami is sapping."

"She's in her office now?" Kakashi looked at each of them in turn. "I think we should update your report."

* * *

Yuma opened the door wearing his most pompous expression and Kakashi ignored that instinctive desire to knock his teeth out.

"We need to speak to Tsunade-sama," the older jōnin said, "it's urgent."

There was something exceptionally smug about his face today and he was pretty sure he knew why. "Of course, senpai." Yuma stepped aside to allow them entrance.

Kakashi, lead the way and Tenzō wheeled Inoichi in after him. Tsunade was at her desk, stony faced, and Erisu was posed before her on trembling legs. The girl faced him and Kakashi halted. The black veins were visible in her throat and temples, her pupils glassed over like a corpse, and her hair was nearly white. She'd lost even more of herself while he was gone.

"Kakashi..." She swallowed hard and added, "sensei." She dropped her eyes and bowed deeply.

He let the cold greeting wash over him and dipped his head in greeting. "Good morning," he replied placidly as he approached her, "Risu-chan." Her eyes lifted and flickered to pink and back to blue. He smiled sadly beneath the protection of his mask. She no longer trusted him.

 _...if you turn down that road, if you go where she can't follow...when you come back she'll be lost to you forever_. As Kakashi held her gaze he knew she could feel all his guilt and regret, could feel how sorry he was for deceiving her, for leaving her.

 _...make sure you're there when she wakes up_.

"...are you alright?" He reached for her but she back stepped.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I'm still recovering from...the jutsu."

"Of course." He rubbed the back of his head and gave her a reassuring eye smile.

Tsunade cleared her throat loudly. "I'm sorry to break up this touching reunion but why are you three here?" She propped her hands in her full hips. "What do you need to tell me?"

"Inoichi-san thinks he knows what kind of entity has taken control of Yusha," Tenzō said bluntly.

Erisu's eyes stretched to an impossible size. "Oniisan is possessed?!" She wobbled suddenly and Yuma dashed to her side before Kakashi could even react.

"Erisu-chan!" The dark haired man caught Erisu's shoulders and guided her towards a wheelchair. "You should sit down."

Kakashi wordlessly observed as Yuma lowered her into the chair with utmost tenderness and draped a blanket over her. He'd made the decision to leave her in Yuma's care and this new bond between them was just the consequence.

"You were preoccupied with the Mental Nightmare, Erisu-san, but the rest of us witnessed another voice speaking through your brother that claimed to be the god Izanagi," Tenzō explained, "and Inoichi-san encountered a consciousness other than your brother's during the Mind Transfer."

"That's right." Inoichi's brows creased. "Tsunade-sama, I believe a shikigami is inhabiting Yusha-kun and draining Erisu's life through her curse mark to strengthen itself."

"A...shikigami?" Tsunade looked horrified. "Are you saying you think Aya is an onmyōji?"

"A sorcerer!" Erisu exclaimed, "but my mother's an amateur geisha, a courtesan! What would she know of onmyōdo? And she's a religious fanatic, what interest would she have in occultism and superstition?"

"Onmyōdo is very similar to ninjutsu, Erisu," Tsunade said gravely, "they respect the power of yin, and yang, as well as revere the five elements just as shinobi do."

"Well, yes," Erisu had clearly read about this topic before, "but it does have more to do with divination, astrology, and placating the souls of the dead not..." Her eyes gave away that her mind was racing. "Emi-chan!" She leapt from her wheelchair without warning. "She was dressed like a miko!"

"A priestess?" Tenzō murmured in confusion trying to follow the girl's train of thought.

"Damn it!" Erisu flung her blanket to the floor and staggered to the window with obvious difficulty. "She's involving Emi in the rituals..."

"You saw your sister?!" Inoichi pushed himself towards her. "When? Where? How is she?!"

"She's..." Erisu's voice faltered. "She's a prisoner, uncle."

He rounded in the Hokage. "Why would you imprison a child, Tsunade-sama?!"

"Let's all back up a couple steps!" Kakashi called authoritatively. "I don't think that's what's happened. Erisu, you have to explain what you mean."

"She contacted me through some sort of advanced telepathic projection and spoke to me during my coma," Erisu said to the room at large.

Kakashi took a step towards her but thought better of it and hung back. "What did she say?" He asked instead.

"She spoke of a ritual, that it was happening soon..." Erisu peered up at Kakashi and spoke to him directly, "then Rokurou appeared and she vanished."

He could keep himself away from her no longer. In an instant he'd crossed the room to her side and pulled her into his arms. Of course Rokurou would be one of her worst fears but to involve her kid sister...it was too horrible. The jutsu really was a horrendous thing. Erisu seized up against him and was suddenly trembling violently. He pulled her back to search her face. Her skin was stark white, eyes like pits of terror and every muscle quivering as if she were going into shock.

"Yo, Risu." Kakashi shook her gently but she didn't respond. "Risu-chan!" She was looking straight through him as she had the day he'd first learned of the curse.

"Let go of her!" Yusha shoved him aside and Kakashi slumped against the window, dumbfounded. Erisu simply stood there, staring at nothing. "You can't just grab her without permission like that!"

"W-what?" Kakashi regained his balance and waved a hand in front of her face but she didn't respond. "The curse. It must be spreading again! Tsun-"

"It's not the curse!" Yuma interrupted with a snarl, "it's the effects of the jutsu. Did you think she could spend all that time in a nightmare especially designed to destroy her mind and walk away like normal?" He scoffed. "Idiot."

Kakashi was too alarmed to register the insult. _Erisu...what happened to you_..?

Yuma leaned in to Erisu, his Byakugan bulging. "Hey-o! Erisu-chan!" He smiled kindly. "You're okay! It was just a dream, yeah?"

She focused her pale, glassy eyes on the Hyūga's face. "Y-yeah...thank you, senpai."

"Erisu-san," Tenzō began, regarding her uneasily, "you said your sister contacted you through your dream, dressed like a miko, and warned you about a ritual?"

"She's not lying!" Yuma snapped. "Erisu-chan specializes in nightmares and their machinations. She knows that Emi was real." He glared at them all with his white, veined eyes, daring them to argue. An unpleasant silence blanketed the room as they all considered this claim.

"Inoichi-san," Tsunade began slowly, "Erisu and Yuma have theorized that Emi used the Mental Nightmare to extend the reach of some sort of Mind Transmission Technique in order to contact Erisu and convey this message. Is such a thing possible?"

"E-eto..." The interrogator considered his niece with a pained expression. "I've never heard of someone projecting their thoughts over such a vast distance and, even if she did somehow use the dream to boost the signal, so to speak, it would still cause extreme strain on her body. Hemorrhage, stroke... And there are so many factors! How long she held the transmission for? But how much chakra could she have? And she's so young and untrained... It's-"

"Impossible?" Tsunade suggested.

"-improbable," Inoichi finished.

"It's worth looking into," Kakashi said simply. "If there's even the slightest possibility that Erisu's vision of Emi was real we should act. We need to confront The Body regardless, this simply lights a fire under us." He bent over and picked up the thin, woolen blanket. "They might be planning on summoning another shikigami, enacting another curse." He wrapped the blanket around Erisu and placed his hand on her waist, pretending to be oblivious of the gratitude written all over her. "Emi and Rūka are likely in serious danger." He urged Erisu forward, supporting her in his arms. "Aya may have learned about Yusha's capture and could be planning to retrieve her prodigal son and the 'god' he possesses. We know this cult is quite large and could pose a real threat to Konoha, especially if their leader is capable of harnessing other worldly creatures." He guided her back to her wheelchair. "Regardless of what exactly The Body is plotting, and regardless of whether or not the image of Emi was real, we have no choice but to act. We know where they are now and must proceed there immediately."

"Senpai," Tenzō hissed, "you don't actually believe that Erisu-san was contacted by a seven year old on the other side of the continent through a dream?"

"As I said, that's irrelevant." Kakashi looked at his comrade with complete calm. "Erisu believes it and that's good enough for me."

"And me." Yuma moved to stand at Kakashi's side and nudged him with his elbow. "I'd believe Erisu-chan even if she said her cat would be the next Hokage."

Kakashi smirked as he looked at Yuma, seeing him as his partner again for the first time in years.

"It's good enough for me as well," Inoichi said gruffly, "Emi-chan and Rūka-kun are family."

Tenzō glowered at Kakashi, contemplating everything. "Fine," he said at last, "I'm with you, senpai." Kakashi dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Wait a minute!" Tsunade was bristling. "You can't just make plans like that without my permission!"

"Tsunade-hime," Erisu murmured and the men hushed immediately, "I already told you that I'm going whether you allow it or not."

Kakashi grew still with disbelief but said nothing. When did Erisu get so assertive?

"Strip me of my rank, declare me a rogue ninja, do as you see fit, but I have a promise to uphold." Tsunade's eyes snapped to Erisu's and hazel met pink. "Forgive me for saying this, Ohime-sama, but if you could've saved your brother wouldn't you have taken that risk?" The room crackled as the four men looked on in astonishment. Tsunade's face was pure rage as Erisu challenged her with those crystalline disks of empathy. "He was everything to you, was he not? All your ambitions, all your dreams, they were for him and his future. All you wanted was to see him succeed..." Erisu's whites were reddening but she never blinked. "...you believed he could be anything, Hokage even, but he was stolen from you."

"How dare you..." Tsunade breathed, her voice containing more heat and anger than dragon fire.

"That's how I feel about Rūka-kun," Erisu said, "he's eleven years old now. He would probably be graduating the academy this year under different circumstances. The last time we spoke he was only seven and Emi was three. Nearly five years without them..."

" _That's enough_ ," Tsunade warned.

"I wanted to become a shinobi," Erisu pushed on, shocking Kakashi further, "to be valuable before my death, to fulfill a promise I made as a child and to prove to my brother and sister that they can escape and succeed. I had to stay silent about my curse, about The Body, to protect them." Blood was starting to bead on Erisu's lashes but still she didn't look away. "You're an older sister too, Tsunade-sama...you understand exactly what I'm saying!" Then Erisu dropped from her wheelchair, her knees slamming hard on the floor. Yuma started towards her but Kakashi caught his arm. Erisu cupped her hands and lowered herself right down, face mere centimetres from the floor in a perfect saikeirei bow of the highest respect.

"I beg of you, Ohime-sama..." Erisu squeezed her eyes shut and blood dripped onto the floor. "...I don't ask for your help but only that you will not stand in the way of a big sister trying to protect her siblings!"

Tsunade looked down at the cursed girl bowing before her with an unreadable expression. Then she walked around her desk, slowly and deliberately, to stop directly above her. She squatted and placed her pale fingers in Erisu's golden-white hair, her long painted nails like flecks of blood. "Hakuchō Erisu," she murmured thoughtfully, "the awkward, rambling Erisu who broke down when asked a simple question...yelling at her Hokage and declaring her intentions to go rogue before four specialized jōnin..." She smiled. "I expect you're to blame, Kakashi?"

He blinked slowly. "I'm afraid I can't take full responsibility." He looked sidelong at the young captain beside him. "Hyūga Yuma mentored her as well."

"Reiketsu..." Yuma growled.

"And Inoichi-" Tsunade pinned him with a look. "-you're her uncle. You're supposed to be her role model!"

"Proudly," he said with dignity.

"Even you, Yamato, claimed she showed promise for eliminating a sound ninja independently!"

"I...yes ma'am."

Tsunade pulled Erisu to her feet and squinted at her in fascination. "You have my permission, no, my blessing, to rescue your siblings," she said in the voice of royalty, "and when you return, curse free, I'll see you promoted to the Anbu Black Ops! Do you understand?"

Erisu's eyes sparkled back to a foggy blue and tears began to pool. "Yes, ma'am."

"Kakashi," Tsunade barked.

"Hm?"

"You are to captain this expedition to the north. Your directive is the rescue of Akaiuma Rūka and Akaiuma Emi." She twirled around and started writing rapidly. "Furthermore, The Body's intentions must be determined and the summoned entity, shikigami or otherwise, is to be eliminated. Lastly, Aya and Rokurou are to be apprehended and returned to Konoha," she paused, "alive or dead."

"Understood."

She addressed the Hyūga next, "I'm assigning Team Yuma to this mission, under Kakashi's command. Go see that your teammates are prepared."

Yuma struggled with that concept of giving his team's command to his rival for a moment but then, with some difficulty, managed a polite bow. "Yes, ma'am."

"Inoichi!"

"Yes!"

"I'm sorry but you're still recovering from the head trauma you sustained during the mind body transfer. I want you to remain here to monitor Yusha and to try to extract as much information from him as possible."

Inoichi grimaced but accepted her decision.

"Yamato!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to accompany Kakashi and Team Yuma as the second in command. I don't think this onmyōji, or whatever she is, will come quietly. Another specialized jōnin is required."

Tenzō made no outward sign of his dissatisfaction. "I understand, Godaime-sama."

"Hakuchō Erisu?"

The girl jumped like a skittish cat. "Y-yes, ma'am?"

"You are not only the most experienced with this cult but also a gifted medical-nin." The smile split her serious expression again as she eyed the dainty girl. "You'll be team medic. It's your responsibility to get everyone back alive."

Erisu's face hardened with determination. "I swear it."

Tsunade's smile spread. "Kakashi, I'm putting Shikamaru at your disposal for the preparation, but preparation only. Work with him on a strategy. You leave in two day's time." She scanned the assembly before her and those wise hazel eyes came to rest on Erisu last. Kakashi saw there that the girl had earned the Hokage's respect. "Dismissed!"

The five of them saluted in synchronization and bowed deeply. Erisu struggled to walk and Yuma hurried to assist her. Kakashi discreetly cut him off and put his arm around her. She didn't meet his eye as he helped her into her wheelchair, only murmuring thank you as he backed away and allowed Yuma to push her from the room. It was more difficult than he'd ever admit to let the other man take care of her but it was necessary. Inoichi rolled himself out and Kakashi was alone with Tenzō and Tsunade.

"Was there something else?" The Hokage asked.

"I was wondering where Jiraiya-sama is," he admitted, "Naruto's in a pretty dark place and I thought his master might be able to cheer him up."

"Ah..." Tsunade dropping into her chair and shuffled her papers."Yes, I'm sure he is. I remember when Orochimaru..." She cut herself off and shook her head as if to clear it. "Jiraiya is investigating rumours that the leader of the Akatsuki is in Amegakure."

Kakashi contained his unease. "Of course," he said phlegmatically, "he is a master of infiltration and espionage." He picked up on her anxiety and knew that the Sage had gone alone. "Thank you, Godaime-sama." He looked over at the possum-eyed Anbu and beckoned him with a tilt of his head. "Tenzō."

"Kakashi," Tsunade called after him.

Kakashi paused, fingers on the door handle.

"About Itachi..."

He averted his eye. "I know," he said, "I'll tell her."

~Erisu~

Kiyomi was cheerfully stripping another woman of any sense of self worth when Yuma and Erisu found her.

"Oh no," Erisu whispered, "I don't want to witness this..."

"She's not _that_ scary," Yuma sniffed disdainfully.

"...don't you have anything else to do?" The cornered woman demanded.

"Hmm..." Kiyomi tapped her dark lip thoughtfully. "Well I was considering paying your boyfriend a visit but I think he's with your sister right now."

The woman practically ignited in flames. "I don't even have a boyfriend!"

"Then who was the bloke I saw you sucking off behind the dango shop?" She clapped a hand over her mouth in mock horror. "Oh! I'm sorry! That was a customer wasn't it?"

"Kiyomi!" Yuma boomed, and she turned in a swish of glossy black hair. "Stop being a bitch!"

She strutted over and sized him up from under those thick lashes. "Oh save your breath, Taichou." She feigned a yawn. "You'll need it to blow up your date later."

Yuma shot the woman Kiyomi had been abusing a look of complete disgust. "Get out of here," he ordered. She fled.

"Oy! You asshole!" Kiyomi threw her hands in the air. "I wasn't done with her yet!"

"Haven't I told you not to play with your food?" Sota emerged from an alley where he'd clearly been spying on them. "It makes it taste all gamey."

Kiyomi's demeanour altered instantly. "Creepy ass stalker," she said fondly.

"You wound me!"

"I could give you a beating too if you'd like."

"Only if you buy me dinner first."

"Stop flirting!" Yuma snapped, "I have a job for you."

Sota perked up with curiosity, his dilapidated eyes widening. "Ooh!" He flashed his signature grin. "Is it a fun job?"

"Let me guess!" Kiyomi punched him in the shoulder. "The assassination of a corrupt official while he's in a brothel?!"

"What?"

"Yes!" Sota whooped. "Babes *and* murder!" Kiyomi clouted around his ears.

"Shut up!" Yuma fumed while his teammates sniggered. "That's not it!"

"Damn!" Sota pouted and kicked a pile of dead leaves. "I've always wanted to have an epic brothel battle! Or shake up some lowlife and shoot up a gang hideout." He threw a flurry of kunai at the Hyūga. "Ping! Shing! Splat! Eurrrg!" Yuma stood there as they hit him and burst into smoke, not amused in the slightest. Sota dissolved into laughter.

"You're not funny," Yuma told him in a voice dripping with liquid nitrogen. "Are you two capable of acting like adults for even five minutes?"

"Probably not, no," Sota replied with complete honesty.

Then Kiyomi spotted Erisu. "Erisu-chan!" She pushed past her captain to embrace the younger woman. "You're awake and safe!"

"I knew you'd pull through," Sota said with a grin. "Kiyomi, pay up, I win."

Erisu shrank. "You were betting on my life?"

"Of course not," she said briskly, twisting to knee her friend in the gut and he doubled over. "Sota thinks he's a fucking comedian!" Sota gripped his abdomen and cursed but that smile remained in place. Kiyomi yanked Erisu from her wheelchair and hugged her too tightly, eyes dancing impishly. Erisu, sensing trouble, closed her eyes.

"Kiyomi..." Yuma warned but he was predictably ignored.

"I heard someone was getting freaky in the archives," Kiyomi said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Some tall, mysterious man and a tiny little blonde thing. Wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Erisu's mouth fell open in mortification as Kiyomi squeezed her with anxiety inducing familiarity.

"What's that?" Yuma's hand hovered over his kunai holster. Erisu choked on his tsunami of jealousy.

"Apparently these two really love books," Kiyomi went on in a horribly carrying voice. "And I mean *really*. Something about those dusty old scrolls and dry pages just gets them so hot!"

"Oh, what nerds!" Sota chimed in.

"They're a couple of nerds alright but I hear they're both super sexy!" Kiyomi's smile broadened as Erisu squirmed. "So naughty."

"Kiyomi-san..!" Erisu pleaded.

"Speaking of lovers..."

"Kiyomi, please!"

"How's that _tall,_ and _mysterious_ Mr. Hero doing?" She was absolutely wicked, Erisu decided.

"...what?" Yuma looked prepared to kill.

"We saw him in the hospital," Kiyomi continued, "y'know, _reading_."

"'Make-Out: Plans' was it?" Sota wondered, "no, 'Make-Out: Strategies'? Oh! That's right! 'Make-Out: _Tactics_ '!"

"Studying how to woo you I assume," Kiyomi said sagely.

Erisu narrowed her eyes. "You're the devil."

* * *

The dango shop was nearly empty except for Anko who was being waited upon by Harumi. Kiyomi's high heeled, knee high boots were on the table and she was reclining against Sota who couldn't have been happier. Yuma sat next to Erisu in a very stiff seiza position, still pissed about what Kiyomi had insinuated, while Erisu ate her dumplings with all the conversation skills of a mime.

"Serious mission, you said?" Kiyomi prompted as she fed Sota a pink dumpling. At least those two seemed to be getting along well. "What's involved?"

"We've been tasked with slaughtering Erisu-chan's family," Yuma drawled, only his eyes letting on how much he delighted in the horror that was suddenly bold on both faces.

Sota choked on his dumpling while Kiyomi's hands literally sparked with fire style chakra. " _Ehhhhh_?!" She punched her partner between the shoulder blades and he coughed up the dumpling. " _Erisu-chan_?!"

"Yuma-senpai is being melodramatic," Erisu assured them, "it's a rescue mission but the death of my mother is very likely." She exhaled and explained everything, omitting the more graphic details about her stepfather and skipping over her nightmare encounter with Kakashi. When she was finished she realized their expressions of horror hadn't faded.

"So we're traveling to the frozen fucking north to free some child slaves, defeat a bat-shit-crazy cult, either kill or capture your parents, and slay a fucking shikigami." Kiyomi ran her hands through her hair. "What the fuck have you gotten us into, Erisu-chan?"

Sota's look of shock morphed and he started to snicker. Everyone stared at him incredulously as he keeled over laughing.

"Oy!" Kiyomi slapped him upside the head. "Have you finally cracked?"

"No, no, I'm good!" He mopped his eyes with a napkin. "I mean, it's all good right?" He looked up and chuckled again. "Let's go kill a god!"


	44. Chapter 42: Equanimity

**CHAPTER FORTY-TWO**

 _ **Equanimity**_

~Kakashi~

It was almost surreal. After the cold, raging storm and heady scent of forest and decay, to now be back in hot, dry Konoha. The leaves rattled, parched, on the branches while the dense forest that surrounded the village whispered endlessly. His anger and guilt was fading now, but still Kakashi felt a chilling unease for what came next. They had an impossible task ahead of them... Slaying a spirit that would be a god wasn't the part that Kakashi was concerned about however, it was getting the children out of there alive. They had no way to know the exact number of cultists they had to face, now how violent and formidable they were. And if Aya had lost control of the Shikagami... Kakashi ran his fingers through his untamed hair and barely contained a sigh. Tenzō walked silently at his side, calm and constant, too awkward to converse and too cold to offer sympathy. But his company was still a comfort.

"You're going to tell her then?" Tenzō broke the silence. "She holds a strange respect for him, even after all the heinous acts he's committed."

"She's an empath," Kakashi replied simply, "it's in her very nature to relate to others and sympathize with them. Don't confuse her understanding with forgiveness."

Tenzō dwelled on that. "You know her well, don't you?" He said at last.

"I thought so." Kakashi caught sight of Kurenai, her belly swollen with child, watering poppies on her balcony and felt his suppressed grief surfacing. "But she had more secrets than I'd anticipated."

Tenzō followed his gaze to their widowed comrade. "We all have secrets."

"Don't we just."

Cumulus clouds as fluffy and white as cotton lazed across the sky and a gentle shower of brittle leaves tumbled through the still air around them as they strolled through an empty street. It was the last heat wave before autumn really took hold.

Kakashi felt ill. The way Erisu had recoiled from him, the absolute terror in her eyes... He could understand that she'd been trapped in her worst fears but she had to know he'd never hurt her, right?

"Hey!" A deep jolly voice called from ahead. "Kakashi-kun! What're you looking for?"

Kakashi slowed and dissected Gai with a dark eye. "Enlightenment."

Gai's grin twisted into a scowl. "Stop acting so damn cool!" He barked, "you think you're so hip and trendy with your mysterious mask and edgy hair-"

"Gai," Kakashi broke in, "aren't you supposed to be guarding Hakuchō Yusha?"

His rival's grandiose front vanished. "Who?"

" _Gai_..."

"Oh! That Yamanaka kid? Ebisu took over." Gai hooked his thumbs in his waistband. "I think he's still holding a grudge about how hard the kid was to catch."

"Hm." Kakashi rolled his shoulders wearily. "I suppose that'll do for now. He is sedated after all but I still expect there to be guards patrolling the hospital."

"Of course," Gai answered with a nod, "Tsunade-sama made it clear how important it is to keep that boy contained." A thought visibly occurred to the man then as if a light bulb had really ignited above his head. "Hey! Weren't you supposed to be tracking down Uchiha Itachi?"

Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke escaped," he explained briskly, "he killed Itachi-" Gai's took a sharp intake of breath but Kakashi ploughed on, "-and then Sasuke's unconscious body and Itachi's corpse were taken by the Akatsuki before we could reach them."

"Kakashi..." Gai's heavy brows drew close. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He ignored the weight of Tēnzo's gaze. "It's Naruto and Sakura we should be concerned about."

"Those poor kids..." Gai hung his head. "I can't even imagine...if Neji took off I don't think Lee would be able to cope."

Kakashi privately agreed but didn't say as much. Instead he changed topics, "is Inoichi-san with Yusha?"

"I passed him as I left the hospital. There was some talk between him and his daughter about invading Yusha's mind?"

"Yeah, it's a rather convoluted situation." Gai raised his brows inquisitively making Kakashi bend and explain everything. When he and Tenzō had covered all that'd transpired and brought to light the discovery of the Shikagami that had overtaken Yusha, Gai let out his breath with a whoosh.

"Convoluted is right," he said at last, "and now... Are you sure Erisu-chan is strong enough to journey all the way north and combat an entire cult?"

Tenzō pinched the bridge of his nose in an image of stress. "It's not ideal but if we want to break the kami's hold on her..."

"Then shouldn't that Yusha boy be going too?" Gai smoothed his sleek bowl cut thoughtfully. "If the spirit is inhabiting his body shouldn't he be present when you disrupt the jutsu that binds it? I'm not a specialist in those types of techniques but it just seems like the most logical course of action."

Tenzō straightened abruptly and turned those large, dark eyes on the copy ninja. Kakashi merely blinked as he considered this. It would be risky to bring that time bomb with them but since the spirit was housed inside him it would make sense to have it present...

"We might need to increase our party to compensate for the risk," Kakashi thought aloud, "Yusha himself isn't particularly dangerous but we have no idea how powerful the shikigami is or how much control it has over his body."

"There are too many variables," Tenzō said, "I don't think The Fifth would go for it."

"Maybe you two should go see the kid then," Gai suggested, "since Inoichi-san is going to be waking him soon."

"Perhaps..." Kakashi allowed, "but there's someone else I need to see first."

Gai smiled knowingly. "I bet you do." Kakashi feigned ignorance and swept past his rival with a pat on his shoulder.

"See you around, Gai!" He called without looking back.

"Go get her Kakashi-kun!" Gai answered with far too much volume. "Sweep her off her feet!"

Tenzō groaned and hurried after Kakashi.

* * *

She was where he knew she'd be, nestled in the tall autumn grass at the roots of her reading tree. Her wheelchair had been abandoned at the edge of the training ground with a collection of leaves already settling down on it as if trying to suck it into the woods.

Kakashi stopped short to watch her for a moment, wanting to savour how calm she looked unburdened by what he'd come to say. But Erisu needed to hear it, and from him first.

"I'll catch you later, Yamato," he said to his colleague, "meet me at the hospital tomorrow morning."

"Senpai," Tenzō objected but a glance was all it took to silence him. "Fine. I'll see you then." He headed back the way they'd come, casting a last glum look at Kakashi before receding from sight.

Erisu was reading, predictably, about Mikoism. Apparently she was researching an aspect of the upcoming mission instead of recuperating, even more predictable. He didn't need to announce himself since his first, soundless step into the glade alerted her to his presence. She smiled, likely without knowing she was doing it, and simultaneously tore him to pieces. Anyone with the power to break another's heart with a curve of their lips should be approached with caution. He resisted the urge to run to her.

"Sensei-senpai-o-sam..." She smoothed her kimono self-consciously. "Kakashi."

"Risu," he replied as he neared and that was all he needed to say for her to know what came next. A funeral voice, that's what it was. His intone and the slope of his shoulders said all. She knew what'd happened and who was gone.

"Ah." She examined her bandaged foot, shoeless and motionless in the grass. "Sasuke-san succeeded." She was trying to sound impassive but he knew what she was feeling regardless. "...and they were both gone before you arrived?"

"Quick as always." His humour was empty. "The Akatsuki have them," he told her with the same false air of disregard. They were both feigning disinterest and fooling no one. "Sasuke and Itachi's body alike."

Erisu nodded vaguely, eyes downcast and mind likely with Itachi's corpse. She must be wondering what would become of it though she had to realize he'd be dissected. A shinobi's body, even in death, was a gold mine of information, especially that of an Uchiha.

"I wanted you to know before..."

"I heard it through the grapevine," she finished, "of course. Thank you."

Kakashi dropped onto the ground beside her and reclined against the twisted bark of the oak. He rarely had to finish a sentence before this girl caught on. It was both irritating and endearing.

"You must think I'm rather twisted," she commented, "mourning the passing of a criminal like him."

He considered his words carefully before responding. "I think your compassion could be revolutionary."

She looked up in surprise.

"That you could still see the good in Itachi and maintain hope for his redemption helps me believe there's still a chance that Sasuke can be saved," he said quietly, "we could all learn something from your example."

She had no response so they merely say there in palpable silence. At last she found her voice again. "How are Uzamaki-san and Haruno-san?" She asked.

"Devastated, naturally." Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "But they'll pull through."

"I'm sure they will," she agreed as she leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder, "it's their sensei I'm worried about."

He said nothing. Words were useless. All he really needed right now was her to sit with him. Knowing that she empathized perfectly with everything he felt was all the comfort he required.

But her melancholy was depressing and he yearned to cheer her up. "Do you want to get some dango?" He suggested, "or maybe some sushi?"

Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Actually, I have a better idea."

"Oh?"

Erisu looked up and that hunger for knowledge swam up from the depths of her silvery blue eyes. "Teach me something new."

* * *

~Erisu~

The river gleamed like some sort of crystal serpent as it slithered through the woods, catching the evening light. Kakashi stood a couple paces away, his uniform black against the strawberry sky. Erisu faced him, determined to get stronger. She wanted to kick her illness in the face and spite it with her progress.

"Alright," Kakashi began lazily, "you understand the concept but I warn you this jutsu is very difficult." His tone implied that he wasn't convinced she'd find it too much of a challenge. "Though that's mainly due to its incredibly long combination of hand seals."

Erisu narrowed her eyes. "Just how long and complicated are we talking about?"

"Well..." He stretched his fingers out, cracking the joints. "I'll do them slowly and say them aloud so follow along as best you can."

"Yes, sir." She set her feet apart and raised her hands in preparation.

"Ready?"

She nodded impatiently.

"It's a lot," he warned, "seriously." She didn't respond so he dipped his head and twisted his fingers together. "Ushi, Sara, Oo, Nae, Ee, Tori," he said while signing them flawlessly, Erisu following easily enough. Kakashi's eye betrayed his approval but it was short lived because it was then that his pace quickened. "Ushi, Uma, Tori, Nae, Tora, Inu, Tora, Mee, Ushi, Hitsuji, Mee, Ee, Hitsuji, Nae, Jin, Sara, Tori, Tatsu, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Hitsuji, Tora, Mee, Nae, Sara, Oo, Ee, Tatsu, Hitsuji, Nae, Ushi, Sara, Tori, Jin, Nae, Ee, Tori!"

Erisu must've missed something. He sighed, running those long dexterous fingers through his silver hair.

"Don't panic," he advised, "your hands are quick and skilled, not just from ninjutsu but from all your artwork as well. Confidence is key, Risu."

"Yes, sir." She did her best to focus on the hand seals and after several tries she'd completed it properly. "Damn sharingan," she mumbled enviously as she opened and closed her hands to ease the cramps.

"Hm?"

"Never mind." She repeated the combination without prompting and was rewarded by his expression of satisfaction. All the reward she'd ever need...

"Ready for the real thing then?" He didn't have to ask. Erisu stepped up to the bank of the river, low and lazy from the heat, and found her centre in its rhythmic flow. She formed the seals, faster than she'd ever signed before, and let her nature be her guide.

" _Water Style_!" She declared, " _Water Dragon Jutsu_!" The river broiled and frothed, writhing like a beast awakening. She blended her energy to the current, binding hydrogen and oxygen with the raw power of her spirit. The foaming maw of the dragon broke the surface and rocketed into the air like a geyser, its eyes blazing with chakra. It arced with the fluid grace only liquid could convey and threw vapour and rainbows in place of smoke and fire. It's jaws parted, whiskers coiling, and then it plunged downwards like a tidal wave. The water bowled Erisu over and she tumbled across the bank like driftwood, soaked through before registering her screw up.

Kakashi dragged her upright, his hair a mop of dripping silver. Erisu caved beneath his disappointment.

"I'm sorry, sensei," she said meekly.

"Whatever." He slicked his hair back and heaved a sigh. "It would've been unheard of if you'd pulled it off on your first try. I copied it from Zabuza after all."

"Zabuza-sama," she echoed dryly, still too rattled to realize she resembled a cat after a forced bathing. "Of course you'd try to teach me the jutsu of a reputable demon."

Kakashi was unfazed. "Oh well." He sized her up with the red pinwheel. "You're not going to be doing anymore ninjutsu in that state."

Erisu twisted her hair and wrung it out. "You're right, of course. I'm all out of chakra." She might've grudged his genius if she wasn't so busy adoring it.

"Let's go get dried off," he decided, hoisting her into his back before she could argue.

"Oy!" She glared at the back of his head. "I can walk, you know."

"Liar." He adjusted her weight, supporting her as if she were made of cotton candy. Erisu wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder, pretending she wasn't enjoying being so close to him. But he could see right through her, couldn't he?

* * *

The room was shrouded in twilight, his bedspread like a sea of green shadows and his walls striped with light and dark from the street lamps that shone through the blinds. It was immaculate. The linens crisp and clean, the wooden floor spotless, only his desk was in disarray. Toppling stacks of worn Icha-Icha novels and unfinished mission reports had left it cluttered. But such feng shui and tidiness wasn't what one would usually expect of a bachelor, indeed, it was more organized than Erisu's own flat. That fact embarrassed her though she knew it didn't need to. He'd never disapproved of her being a scatterbrain.

She followed her mentor's lead and unbound her obi and shed her drenched kimono, still mentally flaying herself for her stupidity. Sending a tsunami after your sensei wasn't going to get you top marks.

Kakashi seemed to read her mind as he gauged her with that cold grey eye, head tilted and wet hair in his face. He mutely folded his soaked shirt.

"I'm sorry," she repeated for what was quite possibly the thirtieth time. "My chakra's just a little wonky with this... _entity_ corrupting it."

He held her gaze for another unreadable interval before squinting into a smile. He shook his head and chuckled amiably. Erisu stared.

"I'm sorry?" She searched him with her mind. "Have I missed something?"

"As usual, yes," he answered, "but don't worry about it. It was a hot day after all, so no harm done." Depositing his sodden flack jacket and sweatshirt over the back of the chair, he gestured towards his bed. "Why don't you sit down? Your chakra is depleted." Erisu hesitated, a flicker of distrust slowing her but she quickly overcame it. This was the real Kakashi, _her Kakashi_ , he'd never hurt her.

. As she scanned her surroundings she realized that it wasn't just clean, it was unused. He clearly only came here to sleep, read, and write his reports, and barely even that.

"Sit down," he repeated, "I'll fetch some towels."

"Yes, sir." She sat abruptly.

Kakashi brushed his bangs from his eyes, still creased in a secret smile. "Erisu..." His voice was a playful scolding. "That was a suggestion, not an order."

"Ah. Yes. Of course." She folded her hands idly in her lap, eyes unsure where to look. "It's warm in here," she stated.

He scoffed and swept soundlessly away like a creature made of mist. Erisu gazed around distractedly. Last time she'd been here she'd barely been conscious and hadn't fully taken in what his living quarters were like. A potted plant and multiple alarm clocks were perched on the broad sill that spanned the wall beneath the window. Notes, maps, and graphs were pinned into the plaster walls, a sketch of a scarecrow face was tacked above the bed while a few framed photographs were displayed on the windowsill. She rose to examine them: Team Minato showed the fourth Hokage tousling the wild hair of a young Kakashi who looked less than pleased to be there. An Uchiha boy wearing ski goggles and a scowl was at Kakashi's side and the departed Rin was beaming in the foreground. He never spoke of his old team and it grieved her to know what had befallen the innocent girl. The Fourth had of course died during the sealing of the Kyūbi and since she'd seen or heard nothing of the Uchiha boy it was safe to assume he was dead as well, whether from the genocide or prior she couldn't tell, though she suspected his fate was tied to Kakashi's eye. Beside that photo was Team Seven, mirroring the stances and expressions of the other group almost eerily. Erisu wondered if Kakashi's smile in the picture was false or genuine as he rested a hand on each boy's head.

The last photo was of Kakashi and Erisu herself. The way they stood in the photograph, closer than necessary, eying each other rather than the camera...it almost looked like they were-she dismissed the thought out of habit.

Erisu still struggled to ignore the rising wave of guilt for letting herself get attached to someone whom she might end up leaving prematurely.

 _He chose to stay with me despite knowing the risks_ , she reminded herself, _I'm not forcing my presence on him, he wants it_. That took a moment to sink in. He actually _wanted_ her, and after all he'd been through, who was she to deny him that?

"Risu-chan." Kakashi's voice made her spring into the air like a cat.

"You're too sneaky!" She hissed, rounding on him, "I almost died!"

He blinked. "Towels." A plush bath towel was extended to her and she reached for it gratefully. Then, without her noticing his movement, he'd caught her hand. His expression darkened. "As I thought." He looked down at her with the first teacher-like expression he'd worn in a while. "You're freezing. I shouldn't have let you try that jutsu knowing full well you can't regulate your own body temperature."

"You never could make me stop pushing myself despite your own better judgement," she mused, "you can't resist observing other's growth. Besides, I'll need to be able to pull my own in this away mission," she reminded him as he released her hand. "I won't be dead weight..." She grimaced. "Pun not intended."

Kakashi disregarded that and ushered her back to the bed, draping the towel around her. "I can't be certain whether we'll succeed," he said as he moved away to look out the window, "but I promise I'll do everything in my power to save your little brother and sister, or else die trying."

"No one's going to be dying," she said firmly, "not any Konoha-nin anyways." He didn't answer, keeping his eyes on the empty street below. The light filtering through the window caught the moisture of his hair, making it glint and glow while the shadows cast his face into sharp relief. He looked like he was carved from graphite in the grey cast of dusk.

"This is what you really want, right?" She tugged the towel tightly around herself and gazed unseeingly at the floor. "I don't want to be a broken record but..."

"I'm leading this away mission," he cut her off sharply, "I'm seeing this through."

"Yes..." She brushed her damp hair aside, tucking it behind her ear. "I know. It's admirable."

He approached her on silent feet. "'Admirable'? I'm not being noble, Erisu, I'm being selfish."

That got a weak laugh from her; Kakashi was never selfish.

But Kakashi wasn't amused. "Any jōnin could technically command the platoon and take your mother and step-father into custody. Yamato or Yuma could each be captain if skill was the only determining factor. Further more, as Naruto's sensei and former mentor to Sasuke, logic would dictate I remain here but even the Fifth knows that's not going to happen."

"I suppose-"

"I'm going with you because I _want_ to, not because I have to," his voice was almost callous in its honesty, "I'm not being a hero or some responsible shinobi just following orders. It's personal."

"I understand-"

"No." His eyes were hard, unyielding. "I'm telling you this because you _don't_ understand. I care about you, as hard as that may be for you to believe, and I won't allow you to die. Not now, not later, not ever. You need to accept that."

"Kakashi..." Erisu couldn't separate the cocktail of emotions spiraling in her head. "You're right," she managed, "I find it hard to believe that anyone could care so much unless they had ulterior motives."

His shoulders sagged, as if he'd given up on trying to get through to her. A long, weary sigh dragged out of him and he shook his head. "Ah, well..." He looked sidelong at her with that unintentional wink. "If you weren't around anymore I'd have one less thing to worry about." She stared, lost. "And I can't have that now, can I?"

Erisu scoffed, scowling at him. "I think Gai-sensei was right about you," she told him darkly.

"Hm?" He raised a brow, caught off guard. "What d'you mean?"

"You always act _so damn_ _cool_!" She punched him in the shoulder and he dissolved into laughter. "I mean it!" She fumed. "You make me seem all weird and awkward by comparison!"

"No..." He crouched in front of her, eyes smiling. "You're just _are_ weird and awkward."

She grinned against her will and head-butted him. "Jerk."

"But I like all your awkward weirdness." He cupped her face in his hand, holding her forehead against his. "Seriously."

"It's hard for me to comprehend but I think I'm finally starting to accept it," Erisu murmured, letting his cold, wet hair soothe her.

"Accept what?"

"That someone could actually love me."

His eyes raised to hers and his cheekbones flushed. "Shush," he advised, "confessions are embarrassing."

"True," she conceded, "but they're necessary." She closed her eyes and let the dark of the room and the familiar smell of his skin lull her into calm. "What are we?" She wondered aloud, "how would you refer to me, if you had to?"

"Risu-chan..." He began but couldn't seem to find the words to finish the sentence.

"I don't really care about the specifics, personally," she continued, eyes still closed, "but whatever this is, know that I'm yours exclusively. That's all."

His hand smoothed back her messy hair and closed around her towel. It was subtle but said everything as he silently patted her face dry. The soft fabric dabbed her throat, her shoulders, wiping the moisture away and warming her inside and out. Erisu dared to look at him, following his movements with quivering pink eyes.

Kakashi unwound the bandages and tape on her arm and pulled off her long left glove, sponging dry the soft skin beneath. He said nothing, kneeling in front of her, eyes lost in the thickening shadow as the sun slipped away at last. He unfastened her kunai holster and removed the bandage beneath. But when he prodded the pin that held the tensor on her left leg she caught his hand, ashamed.

"Please don't," she whispered, "I don't want you to see it. It's hideous."

"No." He tugged the pin from the linen. "Everything about you is beautiful, even this, because it proves how strong you are."

He unbound her with deft fingers, only the rustle of cloth as the wrappings fell to floor broke the silence of the dark room. When her leg was exposed in all its horror he didn't flinch, didn't recoil. Kakashi stroked the mottled skin of her calf, the spidery veins that carried the sullied blood through her. His hand followed the shape of her leg, gliding along the curve beneath her knee and over her bare thigh to The Mark. He brushed the brand with his thumb, tracing the character with only sorrow in his eyes.

"Kakashi," Erisu began, turning his face to hers with a fingertip on his jaw. "May I stay with you?"

His heavy lidded eyes softened and he drew her close. "Of course," he said into her hair, "you don't need to ask."

Erisu pressed her face into the nook of his neck, and gripped his back tight. She could feel every muscle and bone through the thin fabric of his undershirt. He eased her backwards so that they melted into the bed as one, then pulled her against him, sheltering her in his arms. Erisu pressed herself as close as was physically possibly and found his heartbeat thudding steadily against her. His breath was as peaceful as the waves of an ocean.

She'd never felt as safe as she did in that moment and what a pivotal moment it was, to be held by someone she trusted implicitly after the terror she'd felt almost endlessly before then. Kakashi would never hurt her, she knew with complete certainty. The nightmare had been only a nightmare. She was awake now and no longer afraid.

No matter what came next, no matter what horrors they'd face at dawn, nothing could ever take this moment of equanimity from them.


	45. Chapter 43: Moralizing Mortality

**CHAPTER FORTY-THREE**

 _ **Moralizing Mortality  
**_

~Kakashi~

Blinking open his eyes and shaking away the tendrils of sleep that were trying to drag him back into the dark, Kakashi awoke to a confusing sight. Eyes like amber moons, mere centimetres from his face, bore into him and something warm was vibrating on his chest.

It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at. "...Aiko-hime?" The she-cat blinked in affirmation and he let his head fall back onto the pillow.

Erisu's cats had an uncanny intuition when it came to their master's location. The dainty tabby kneaded his sternum with her downy white paws, purring with volume that wasn't in accordance to her size. He turned his head in search of Erisu and was met with another feline face, this one rugged and scowling.

"...and apparently Ookami..." The cat glared. "...sama," Kakashi added appeasingly. Beyond the burly tuxedo cat an airy sigh signalled Erisu's whereabouts. Kakashi propped himself on his elbows, Aiko disapprovingly bounding away, and gazed over at the sleeping girl. Her hair was delightfully dishevelled, spiked across the pillow, and her lips were slightly parted as she breathed. She was a study in tranquility.

He wished she'd stay peaceful and content forever but he wasn't going to delude himself. He knew what came next, what always came next. The loving father would became a suicide to be stumbled upon, the rival-turned best friend became a name on a memorial and a gift as red as blood... A comrade would become a gravestone, a sensei a face carved in the mountain. He'd told Sasuke that everyone he'd ever loved was dead, that his students filled the void, but where were they now? A jinchuuriki with a bounty on him larger than the nation, a bereaved girl still clinging to an unrequited love, an avenger on a path to complete and utter destruction. And then there was Erisu... Student-turned-friend-turned-lover and facing odds that Shikamaru would dismiss as a battle already lost. Jiraiya was right: he was cursed.

An urgent rapping at the door dragged him out of his reverie and Kakashi reluctantly got out of bed. He tugged up his mask habitually and cracked open the door. Eyes, inhumanly round and shadowed with bold brows appeared through the crack.

"I am sorry for the disturbance so early," Lee said rapidly, "it is only that I have been sent to inform you that the Hokage requires your presence!"

"Oh?" Kakashi cocked his head inquisitively and opened the door further, careful to keep the bed and its contents from view. "What's the occasion?"

"I do not know the details..." Lee trailed off as his eyes wandered past the jōnin and into the apartment.

"Lee?" Kakashi prompted him.

The boy jumped. "Oh! Sorry! I do not know the details," he resumed, "only that there is new information regarding the leader of the Akatsuki!"

J _iriaya must be back_ , Kakashi deduced. "Does Tsunade-sama want me immediately?" Lee was staring past him again and Kakashi subtly leaned against the doorframe to intercept his line of sight.

"Er-yes." He looked back at his superior. *When did Lee get so tall? *They were all so tall now... "That is, I assume so. She seemed quite distressed."

Well, that _was_ interesting... and ominous. " _Lee_." Kakashi snapped him back to attention.

"I am sorry," Lee said sincerely, "it is only that I thought I saw... Is that Erisu-san's kimono?"

Kakashi blinked slowly as he digested the blunder. He was formulating a clever lie when a fuzzy mass pushed past him to rub against Lee's leg warmers.

"And is this not Erisu-san's cat, Ookami-sama?" Lee squatted to scratch the traitor behind his ears. Then Lee's heavy brows drew together and his mouth fell open in an O as understanding dawned on him. Kakashi resigned himself to the fact that their secret was out. Sakura and Naruto were bound to find out know. "Kakashi-sensei," Lee began in excitement, "I do not know how I did not realize sooner!"

The Copy Ninja bowed his head and braced himself for the inevitable jubilance and chaos.

Lee bounced to his feet and punched his own palm. "Yosh! You and Erisu-san are roommates!" Ookami twitched his tail and stalked back inside with a huff.

"Eh..." Kakashi stared at the kid, dumbfounded by his naïvety but simultaneously relieved by it. "Something like that."

"How wonderful!" Lee did a little hop-skip. "That must make training even more convenient as you are already in the same residence! I should move in with Gai-sensei! We could continue our training together during our meals and bathroom routines!"

Kakashi decided to stop him there. "Thanks for delivering The Fifth's message, Lee," Kakashi said pointedly, "I'll head to the Hokage's Residence right away."

Lee was too carried away to take a hint. "Is Erisu-san here now?" He tried to peek over Kakashi's shoulder. "I always assumed this was a bachelor suite but it must have more bedrooms than I had realized."

Kakashi shifted again to block Lee's view of the flat. "Excuse me, Lee," he said more firmly, "I need to get ready."

"Of course, Sensei!" The boy bowed deeply, his glossy black fringe barely moving from its perfect bowl shape. "I apologize for taking up so much of your time."

A soft sighing yawn cut through the still morning and both of them stiffened at the sound. Kakashi needed to cut this conversation off before Lee's curiosity exposed the incriminating evidence that even Lee could piece together, evidence stirring in his bed.

"Good morning, Erisu-san!" Lee called past him and Kakashi could feel a tingle of sweat starting at his temples. There was a yelp of surprise, followed by a frantic whoosh of fabric and a sudden thud as Erisu fell out of bed. Kakashi closed his eyes and groaned inwardly with second-hand embarrassment.

"Kakashi-sensei, may I please come in to say hello to Erisu-san?" Lee asked with impeccable courtesy and disastrous timing. "I have not seen her since before she went into a coma and although I visited her in the hospital she was in no state to register my presence."

"Well, you see..." His mind raced. "Erisu is still very weak from her ordeal and isn't really in any condition to be entertaining anyone. The most gentlemanly thing to do right now is allow her to get some much needed bedrest."

His eyes were rounder than dinner plates and Kakashi thought for a moment that he might pull out a pen and paper to take notes.

"Seriously," Kakashi added gravely.

"Is that so?" Lee's face fell. "Well, as Konoha's Handsome Devil and most respectable of gentlemen I will obey your words of wisdom!" He was so much like Gai it was creepy. "Perhaps I can visit her another time!" He bowed again which Kakashi acknowledged with a dip of his head. "Goodbye, Kakashi-sensei and please give my well wishes to Erisu-san!"

"See you, Lee." Kakashi gave him an informal salute and retreated into the apartment. Erisu was tangled in the green shuriken patterned comforter in a position reminiscent of Downward Facing Dog. Ookami had already curled up on the rumpled blanket.

"Good morning, O-sama," Erisu said faintly as she tried to disentangle herself, "was that Lee-san?"

"Yeah." He offered her a hand as she got to her feet. "Tsunade-sama's summoned me."

Erisu murmured some incoherent response and started making his bed quite possibly without realizing she was doing it. Kakashi caught her by the shoulder and turned her to face him, placing his palm in her forehead.

"You have a fever," he stated and gently pushed her back into the bed. She flumped onto the wrinkled surface and gazed up at the ceiling. "Risu?" Could she hear him?

"I forgot to celebrate Obon," she stated mournfully. "The poor ghosts. I hope Itachi-senpai got to the afterlife okay." Letting her try out the water dragon jutsu had been unwise...

Rather than trying to get through to her in her delirium, Kakashi opted to fetch her water and bandages. As he wrapped the linen carefully over her disfigured limb, Kakashi tried to be optimistic. Like Erisu and Rock Lee, he wanted to focus on the positive aspects of the situation he was in. For example the meeting with the Fifth would give him the perfect opportunity to bring up the subject of taking Yusha with them to The Land of Iron. Yes, it should be most productive. He'd acquire some much needed intel on the Akatsuki and have the answer as to what to do with the possessed boy by the time he met Tenzō at the hospital.

He glanced back up at Erisu then to realize that her illness was sapping her nearly lifeless. Her distant eyes were fogged over and her almost dreamy expression suggested that she was barely here anymore; Kakashi wondered what she thought of Yusha now...if she still loved him in spite of everything? Knowing her as he did it was obvious that she'd always love her brother in some way, and likely her sorceress mother as well, just as she still believed there had been good in Itachi mourning him even now.

 _That's simply who Risu is: a ready giver of unconditional love._

She was still calm and relatively happy, despite her concern for the spirits of the dead she'd forgotten to honour the month before, but her peace was tainted now. The innocence and perfection of simply falling asleep together had passed. Erisu's clock was still ticking and Kakashi had run out of excuses for being late.

* * *

The presence of The Toads said all. Chief Gamabunta and Gamakichi were in the yard out front of the prestigious building and the sight of them coupled with the reputable Fukasaku made it clear upon entering the domed room that the impossible had happened. Tsunade was slumped over her desk, unable to look at the amphibious messengers while Shizune stood faithfully at her side with eyes like liquid obsidian.

"Have you told Naruto?" Kakashi kept his voice even. Logical. Stoic.

The Sannin shook her head, face obscured by her long flaxen bangs. Sai was standing near the wall looking on as a silent outsider when the door opened with a groan. Sakura entered, followed closely by Naruto, still rubbing sleep from his baby blue eyes.

Not now. Not after Sasuke. How would he cope?

It was completely opposite from explaining Itachi to Erisu. Where words hadn't been required for her to comprehend what'd happened, for Naruto the message was incapable of sinking in despite Fukasaku saying it as plainly as possible. His failure to understand made it feel as if all the oxygen was being drained from the room and his innocent questions were each a blow that could kill on their own.

Everything Jiraiya had learned about the Akatsuki's headquarters in Amegakure...about the multiple personas of Pain...and the legendary Rinnegan...Naruto was deaf to it all.

At last he realized what the toads were trying to say and Naruto's spirit was gone completely. Ferrying Jiraiya onward? Or possibly ceasing to exist entirely. The denial was instant but the anger followed faster than thunder after the flash. He shouted at the Hokage, accusations and blame. His rage was savage and his words cut Tsunade to the heart.

...And then Naruto was gone.

Sakura made to pursue but Kakashi blocked her way with a limp hand. "Let him go," he advised her, "sometimes words of comfort do more harm than good."

Sakura's seafoam irises trembled as she stared in the direction in which Naruto had departed. She looked completely helpless, a mirror image of Kakashi's own turmoil. But Naruto wasn't the only one who'd been shattered. Tsunade, steadfast and stronger than any shinobi Kakashi had known, had crumbled.

In the end no one is invincible, and everyone would be broken before their time inevitably ran out. Because time doesn't care.

~Erisu~

Everyone knows that everyone dies. Death follows life; a fact every child learns often before they even fall in love for the first time. The weak, the sickly, the old... But the young, who's funeral seemed eons away are suddenly gone before you have a chance to say their names. And the humorous and spontaneous who were so busy living their lives in the moment as if death was nothing but a joke, but they were as mundane and vulnerable as the last. But possibly, the hardest to accept were the wild ones...those who're so full of joy and vitality they fool you into thinking them immortal.

Kakashi hadn't made contact since leaving for the Hokage Residence the morning before but she didn't blame him in the slightest. As Erisu stood on the curving bridge that spanned the Naka River with an autumn moon rising behind her, she was bitterly amused. She'd tricked herself into thinking she had accepted her own death but all she'd been doing was detaching herself from the reality that she would actually cease to exist. Just like Miwa and the Third, Chiriko and Asuma... Itachi and Jiraiya. At least there'd been funerals before, evidence that it was true... But her senpai and the Sage had simply vanished, their bodies lost.

The hardest part to come to terms with is the _absence_. There's no more casual encounters, or meaningless fluff conversations, no chance to catch their eye from across the room to share a wordless joke. That's where the hollowness comes from, that void caused by the sudden lack of familiar verbal tics or those weird little things they'd do-a plea for company or a puff on a pipe...a game of shōgi, a murmured mantra...an apologetic poke on the forehead or a flourish of the hands and booming laugh.

What'd she even said to Jiraiya the last time they spoke? She couldn't even remember if she'd given a polite enough farewell or said goodbye at all for that matter. Then snippets of her silly conversation with him resurfaced, it'd seemed so intense at the time...

 _"A romance forged in the tension of impending war, will the lovers ever be together? Or will it end in tragedy? I give you: Icha... Icha... Secrets!"_

She smiled miserably. The great big fool and his smutty insinuations...

Her pink eyes gazed blearily up at her from the restless water as the grief of the city soaked through her skin and waterlogged her bones.

He was the legendary Sannin! Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku, and self proclaimed ladies' man! ...and now his lifeless body was floating in the unforgiving waters of some foreign land. It wasn't right in the slightest...for someone that powerful, that kind, to be killed like that. It shouldn't even be possible!

He'd almost become the Fifth Hokage himself, she recalled, before personally tracking down Tsunade to take his place. And who had the genial old man chosen for company in such a historical mission? The ostracized, knuckle-headed ninja and embarrassment of the village. Why were teachers so... *selfless*? Finding broken fools and giving them the chance they so desperately desired. Jiraiya had saved Naruto with that simple act of consideration just as Kakashi had saved Erisu.

 _Oh, Uzamaki-san..._ She couldn't contain the emotion, tears gliding soundlessly down her cheeks to fall, sparkling, into the river below. _You are stronger than you know._

Without being completely conscious of her movements, Erisu found herself outside the Naka Shrine lighting lanterns and praying. Opening her pouch which usually contained weapons and bombs, she produced her offering and set it in her make-shift alter beneath the tall red torii gate the loomed above her. Eventually she rose to slump against the arch and return her eyes to the river.

"Hey, Risu." Kakashi appeared on her right, folding his arms casually and following her gaze to the water swishing away. "You heard?"

"I felt it first," she confessed, "like a smog settling over the city... The collective shock of the people is making it hard to function."

"That's..." His words were lost as he fastened his eyes on the water and trailed it into the distance.

"Indeed," she agreed.

"There's something we need to discuss," Kakashi said heavily, face completely hidden from her by his mask and headband. She'd expected that and had already prepared her response in advance.

"I know...and I'm sorry." She gripped the red wood behind her until her fingers turned white. "What I said last night, about what I am to you? ...it was inappropriate. I understand that having a public relationship when the Akatsuki have already threatened your life is a vulnerability that would complicate your already precarious predicament should they learn of our connection."

"What?" He turned his head to look her full in the face. "That's not what I meant."

"It was irresponsible of me to ask to spend the night and Lee-san's visit this morning could've really endangered your ability to combat the Akatsuki," Erisu pressed, wanting to make it clear to him that she understood his standing with no hard feelings. "I don't want to put you in a situation where my safety might be held over you in order to force your compliance."

"Risu, hold on a minute-"

"They've already made an attempt on Haruno-san's life, attempted to kidnap Uzamaki-san, although admittedly that was because of the Kyūbi, but now they've taken Sasuke-san." Her rosy eyes were watering again and she blinked them rapidly to keep them from overflowing.

"Erisu," he began sternly but she cut him off.

"It's very likely that they'll use Sasuke-san for ransom in a plot to get the jinchuuriki and I don't want to be another potential pressure point. So rest assured our relationship, regardless of what it is precisely, will remain a secret on my part."

"Hakuchō Erisu!"

"Y-yes, sir!" She looked up at him in alarm to find him flushed, eye round.

"I get what you're saying but that's *not* what I was talking about!" He sighed and swept back his hair in his tell of agitation, eye darting about.

"Oh..." She tucked her messy bangs aside from a sudden surge of self-consciousness. "I'm sorry."

With a sharp inhale through his hidden nose Kakashi dropped his gaze to carefully examine the wood grain and chipped paint. "What I wanted to discuss doesn't involve...us, per say." His voice had swiftly regained its calm but his deliberate usage of 'us' stuck out to her as very significant. "It's about your older brother actually."

All inklings of romance fizzled out faster than flames under sand. "Oniisan..." Her throat was suddenly tight. "I-is he alright?"

"He hasn't regained consciousness yet," Kakashi told her, line of sight still downcast, "Tsunade-sama was going to resuscitate him today but considering the circumstances... Well, needless to say a bit of delay is to be expected." That heavy lidded eye that always seemed so sleepy was so hard and intense in that moment. "I just left the hospital. He's being guarded by Genma-san and T-Yamato at the moment."

A weird noise of acknowledgement was all she could manage due to his unnerving aura. It was as if he was about to tell her that yet another immensely powerful person had been untimely murdered.

Kakashi closed his eye bracingly and took the plunge. "Gai made a very interesting point during a conversation with Yamato and I yesterday and I discussed it with the Godaime." Mercury met pink tourmaline. "Since the Shikigami is bound to Yusha we've decided that he needs to be present when we confront Aya."

Erisu merely stared at him. Yusha was crazy and unpredictable enough already...if he was near their mother again her influence could turn him into a true monster. He wasn't just an obedient son who respected his mother, he was obsessed with her and parroted her religious propaganda as if it were law. And after the way he'd been kidnapped, tortured by his Konoha captors, and then made to experience his worst nightmares, it was more than likely that Yusha would now be out for revenge. What better way to achieve that than by delivering the so despised ninja and traitor daughter to his beloved mother?

Erisu found her voice. "That would be..." She regarded Kakashi carefully though her thoughts were introspective. "...Kakashi, he'd turn on us in an instant! Yusha only cares about Aya's directive and the resurrection of their god."

"I know." He turned his eye away again, simultaneously placing his hand over hers. "That was my initial opinion as well but it'll be easier to bind and destroy the shikigami if it's actually present."

"But-"

"Relax." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Yusha will be kept sedated during the journey north and Yamato's jutsu will help keep the spirit within him in check. Team Yuma will be there as well so as a total we'll have a genin, a chūnin, and four jōnin, three of which were formerly Anbu. With your intimate knowledge of him, as well as the Byakugan, Sharingan, and Mokuton all at our disposal it'll be hard for Yusha to even sneeze without us knowing."

Erisu smiled weakly in response but her sense of foreboding wasn't something she could shake. After a moment of her brooding silently Kakashi broke into the silence, seemingly eager to lighten her mood.

"What are you doing out here anyways?" He queried, "what's with the lights?"

Erisu felt ashamed. "I thought..."

"Yes?"

"...thought that Itachi-senpai might want to visit his home before heading to the afterlife..." She hated herself for saying it. "...if there is an afterlife."

Kakashi didn't respond at first, his expression unreadable as her surveyed her offering and fire to guide the dead home. "Why onigiri?" He asked at last with a nod towards the rice balls she'd left out.

Erisu shrugged, afraid to look at him. "He'd eat them all the time so I asuumed they were his favourite, even though he never really spoke about his likes or dislikes," she mumbled, "and he loved fragrant teas...always hanging around in tea houses and cafes." Her eyes clouded again. "I still don't understand..."

Her sensei didn't seem offended by her controversial gesture though he was admittedly not about to express his regrets that the criminal had died. "And the book?"

The worn copy of the Gutsy Ninja sat alongside Itachi's favourite snack, the sight of which made the limo rise in her throat again. "For Jiraiya-sama," she told him, "I don't know what he likes to eat, or even where he lived, but I wanted to honour him too."

Kakashi nodded slowly in understanding as he examined her attempt at a secret festival. "Well.." He offered her his hand. "I think we should finish the ritual, don't you?"

She could breathe again. Smiling broadly she laced her fingers with his. "Yes, sir! I have them ready!" Hand in hand, Kakashi and Erisu headed down to the Naka River, now a glistening path of liquid obsidian, and placed wooden boats in the shallows. Lighting the lanterns, adorned with the names of the deceased, they rested the paper lights in the decks of the little vessels and let them be carried away with the current, taking Itachi and Jiraiya with them. Erisu watched the glowing spirits until they'd drifted from sight, the flickering lights sailing away into the dark finally bringing some sort of closure.

"Er...Risu-chan..." The deep, leisurely voice was oddly tight.

"Yes?"

"Would you..." His eye slanted down at her before reverting quickly back to the river. "Your cats are still at my apartment and seeing as we'll be heading out tomorrow evening..."

She was suddenly aware of his fingers entwined with hers and her eyes stretched. "But O-sama, your students..."

He shrugged and tugged up his mask nervously. "In my experience people tend to be a bit less observant than we'd think." He peeked down at her and his anxiety become altruistic affection. "I highly doubt, with everything that's going on, that anyone would notice the two of us retiring to my house together."

"Well..." Erisu glanced around instinctively for hidden enemies. "...in that case, I guess I shouldn't leave my poor kitties all alone at your flat."

The emotional wall that kept her out faltered for a moment and she could sense his relief and embarrassment. A smile played about her mouth at the concept of Kakashi of the Sharingan getting flustered. There was no concept preferable and she'd keep him in that state perpetually if she could.

"...I must remember to pay Harumi for the way she's taken care of Aiko-hime and Ookami-sama in my absence," Erisu realized aloud, "I hate leaving them alone but they're not ninneko."

"Ookami thinks he is," Kakashi pointed out.

Erisu giggled despite her grief. "I'll need to establish a summon," she went on, her mind light years from Konoha. "I wonder if it'd be a cat."

"Maybe, but Naruto's is a toad so..."

"And yours is a hound." She considered the animals to which those around her had an affinity. "Hounds suit you," she informed him, "fidelity, cooperation, resourcefulness, protection..."

"Risu..." His voice was different. Kakashi gestured towards the shrine with his head. Erisu followed his gaze and caught sight of a jet black crow inspecting the onigiri with a dark crimson eye. It cocked its head to scan the rice with the other eye in that inquisitive manner that only a bird can convey. Then it turned its long hooked beak towards the couple on the bank and Erisu felt every cell tingling as if she were suddenly conducting fire from within. With a hoarse cry, the glossy black bird took an onigiri in its talons and launched itself skyward. It soared high, moonlight catching on its ebony feathers as it rolled gracefully through the humid night air. One last caw pierced the night before it banked smoothly and vanished from sight.

Erisu's eyes remained fixed on the sky long after the bird had disappeared and, just for a moment, thought that maybe there were two more stars than before.


	46. Chapter 44: Symptoms

**CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR  
**

 _ **Symptoms**_

~Erisu~

A horrible, piercing shriek of pain awoke Erisu with a start, sitting bolt upright. Kakashi leapt to attention from somewhere across the room, a kunai practically teleporting to his hand as he dashed to her side.

"What's wrong?" He demanded of her, battle ready.

That's when Erisu realized she'd been the one who'd screamed. "I-I don't know...something's-something's wrong..." She made to swing her feet over the side of the bed but was suddenly doubled over with another barely suppressed scream.

"Erisu!" He dropped to his knees in front of her. "What's wrong?"

"I can't-" She choked as another wave of agony made her certain her body was about to spontaneously combust. "-My leg- _uhgn_ -it won't...move!"

Kakashi pulled back the covers to inspect Erisu were she sat hunched in her nightdress and bandages. The crisp white tensor that hid away her diseased tissue was tarry with blackened blood. She threw herself off his bed instantly with a heave of her arms but Kakashi's jōnin reflexes resulted in him catching her before she hit the floor.

"What was that for?" He shifted her onto the hardwood beside him.

"I don't want to get blood all over your bed," she explained quickly before the pain took hold again. Erisu gripped her thigh in an attempt to alleviate the burning and searing, her fingers quickly becoming sticky with the black ooze. The dim glow from the barely rising sun and subtle light of Kakashi's desk lamp left the room in a sort of haze of lowlight and intense shadow. She could barely make out his masked face where he crouched in front of her. Erisu squeezed her leg and forcibly contained her sobs, devastated that this was happening now of all times. Kakashi brushed her hands aside and unwound the wrappings. As the bloodied fabric fell away they both took a sharp intake of breath.

The leg looked as if it was being broken apart from the inside, flesh cracking open like fissures from volcanic pressure. Before their eyes there was another burst of pain and her skin split open, hot blood the colour of ink bubbling from the lesion and trickling down her swollen, purple thigh, half congealed.

Erisu lost all sense of calm. " _Ugh_!" She tried to squeeze the slits closed and shield them from Kakashi's view. " _Don't look_!" She shouted at him, hastily piling the soiled bandages over the wounds to hide them. "I look like I ought to be in a morgue!"

"Calm down." His voice was an attempt at comfort, but it wasn't altogether reassuring since he was emitting bursts of shock and concern himself. "Let's get you to the hospital; this can't be a good..."

"You think?" Another crack opened horizontally above her knee as if some invisible creature was trying to claw its way out of her body. She planted her palm over it like a cat catching a laser pointer. " _There's something inside of me_!"

She gagged and crumpled then, shivering uncontrollably as all the heat inexplicably left the room. Goosebumps appeared all over her skin and Erisu suddenly noticed that her fingernails were a bizarre shade of periwinkle blue. She was freezing, and quite possibly to death.

"Risu!" Kakashi caught her by the shoulders, his eye rounded. "You're as cold as death..." He swept away but Erisu barely registered due to her uncontrollable shivering, then he was wrapping her up in a heavy cloak and scarf.

"You don't have to," she complained through chattering teeth, "I'm fine."

He lifted her into his arms, so easily she felt like she was nothing but a fragile origami doll. Ignoring her protests and lies that she could walk, he pushed through the drawn curtains and leapt out the open bay window. His feet barely touched the ground before he'd launched himself onto the rooftops and set off at an impossible pace.

* * *

"I can't explain it," Tsunade said, face drawn. "It's as if her leg is being torn apart from the inside..."

"That's what it looked like... Is that possible?" Kakashi was standing at the bedside like a soldier on duty, Erisu unable to look at him.

"There's no proof that something is actually inside her," she replied, "it's as if her body is trying to destroy itself internally."

"How severe is the damage?"

"It's superficial," The Hokage assured him, speaking about Erisu as if she weren't present, "the lesions seem to be only to her epidermis and there's been no serious trauma done to her musculature or vascular systems. It's grisly and painful but it shouldn't be particularly dangerous as long as the bleeding is controlled and any infection is prevented."

"And her blood," he pressed, "why is it black?"

"There's some sort of unidentifiable clotting substance that's keeping the blood in a semi-congealed state," Tsunade explained, "there were a couple of minor embolisms present as well but after an injection of heparin they're dissolving so the risk of blockage is low."

"Will the lesions spread?"

"I honestly don't know. I think they were triggered by stress, emotional trauma maybe? I think it's safe to assume that it's a new, late stage symptom of the Curse Mark but with my limited information it's impossible to tell if the damage will remain isolated to her leg or not. Although..." She looked at Erisu directly for the first time and the girl tried to block out the woman's concern and frustration. "The discolouration has spread."

Erisu looked at the Godaime in alarm. "What?! Since when?!"

She narrowed her hazel eyes. "You mean you haven't noticed?"

"Well..." Erisu returned her face to her leg, bound and elevated by a sling to the ceiling. "I mean, I treat the irritation with a topical analgesic ointment and change the dressings daily but I admit I don't particularly like to look at it since it's so. . .disgusting." She inhaled the dry air being pumped into her nose and let it out with a huff.

"When I examined the cuts on your leg I saw that the cyanosis is visible on your left hip bone and lower back now," Tsunade informed her, voice suddenly unreadable, "that spidery vein pattern has also appeared on your abdomen, throat, and ribcage. You've lost twenty pounds since your first check up in the spring and your muscle mass is decreasing rapidly. It's also worth noting that your left toenails have turned black from a complete lack of oxygen. In fact, if it wasn't for the nature of the illness and your own chakra somehow forcing the limb to remain alive, I would have insisted on amputation."

That got a reaction from Kakashi. " _Amputation_..." His voice did that "Cold-Blooded-Kakashi-Thing" and willfully drained of emotion. "Would that actually stop the spread of the Curse?"

"I think I'd rather a prosthetic than this," Erisu muttered bitterly, hating every cell in her deteriorating extremity. She could feel the disapproving gaze of her sensei weighing down on her but wouldn't meet his eye.

"It wouldn't help." Tsunade shifted her weight and folded her arms. "Just as we couldn't cut away Sasuke's heaven mark and graft on new skin, removing the affected body part wouldn't remove the actual curse. This isn't a biological or organic occurrence like bacteria, tumors, or parasites; it's more like a virus that attacks your chakra system itself, the "sacrifice" symbol is merely the equivalent of the red circle that surrounds a tick bite that caused Lyme Disease."

"So chopping it off won't fix it?" Erisu slumped onto her pillows and stared listlessly out the window. "Shame."

Kakashi was a man made of static beside her, crackling with agitation and helplessness as he tried to fathom her despondent mood. After all, she'd almost always maintained an expression of optimism in regards to The Curse and its symptoms.

But quite plainly: she was embarrassed, no, mortified.

For her to wake up screaming and bleeding, needing to be carried like an ailing child... She'd only just started to feel that she had strength and value and now she was back _here_...the accursed ICU where she'd been about to bleed out and succumb to hypothermia. It was about as far from where and what she wanted to be. Worst of all was Kakashi seeing her like this, all strapped up to the monitoring systems and buried in blankets to stabilize her temperature. Demeaning was an understatement and she wished she could just disappear. Sometimes the fake smile she'd painted in her face would smudge or smear and people would glimpse the reality beneath. She had to maintain her facade of happiness, had to keep her mask in place.

"It's a good thing you were there, Kakashi," Tsunade commented and Erisu's sensei shifted his attention away from his student. "Once the abrasions started there was no way Erisu would've been able to get here in her own. I recommend you continue to accompany her during the day leading up to the departure and make sure that the rest of your platoon is aware that she is to be monitored at all times."

Erisu sank deeper into her blankets. So she was to be watched as closely as her prisoner brother? She tried to dismiss her pessimism. They cared about her and that was a good thing... She just wished she could take care of herself.

"And as for Yusha," Tsunade went on, "he's to be sedated and bound to Yamato for the duration of the mission. I'm starting to suspect that his closer proximity to his sister may be playing a part in the sudden acceleration of her condition. With the Shikigami's food source so close the draining may very well be more intense now. That could also mean that the kami is stronger in Erisu's presence. Keep that in mind."

"Yes, ma'am." Kakashi cast a pensive eye over Erisu's leg. "When can Erisu leave the hospital? She still needs to prepare for the journey north."

Tsunade considered for a moment before replying. "She can go now, just keep her warm."

 _I'm not his child, you know_ , she thought sulkily.

"Yes, ma'am," he said again, "and thank you for treating her so early in the morning."

"It wasn't a problem," the Hokage said dismissively, "I was already awake. I'm waiting for Shikamaru to bring me his report on his progress decoding Jiraiya's message."

"I see." Kakashi's demeanour altered considerably. "Anything so far?"

"They're trying to determine the key, Shikamaru thought that I might know what it was but I have no idea." She stifled a sigh. "Anyways, I'd better get back to my office."

"Thank you again, Godaime-sama." Kakashi gave a short bow.

"Just keep her alive, will you?" She answered as she headed for the door. "God knows we've seen enough death around here."

* * *

Erisu pulled the soft green scarf around her neck and ears, letting the tail ends of it spread across her chest like a blanket. It was a muted Konoha Green, patterned with a row of dark circles accented with horizontal lines, but more importantly it smelled like Kakashi...smelled like crisp autumn air, and the electric tingle of a lightning storm, and had the more earthy undertones of old books with the faintest trace of aftershave. It was worn, frayed at the ends as if he'd had it for ages but it was still softer than Pakkun's fur. Erisu was glad to keep it under the pretence of staying warm.

Erisu's shoeless feet, one bare one bandaged, padded along the cold floor of the hospital soundlessly. Kakashi walked alongside her, eye fixed straight ahead, as they headed for the hospital lobby.

"Kakashi," Erisu began in a voice too soft for anyone but him to hear, "I'm sorry for my melancholy, I realize it was less than productive... and thank you for your help."

He shrugged her off and waved his hand, face never turning to look at her. "Don't worry about it. Lets just just focus on what comes next."

With a mute nod, Erisu observed the tiles under her unsteady feet as she walked. She couldn't feel him again and the knowledge that he was deliberately blocking her empathy made her nervous. He was distant, distracted, and deeply concerned about something. She looked sidelong at him, taking in that he was still wearing his full uniform and that it was creased and rumpled. There was a purple hue beneath his exposed eye.

"Kakashi-sensei," she began again, less sure of herself this time. "You didn't sleep last night, did you?"

"No," he admitted, "I was distracted...reading Icha-Icha."

Erisu stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop. "I'm a human lie detector, you know."

He regarded her and even without being able to sense his emotions she could tell he was debating whether or not to tell the truth. "You probably heard Tsunade-sama mention it," he said at last in a low intone, "as his final act Jiraiya-sama wrote an encoded message on the back of the Toad Sage Fukasaku. A message of what he learned about the leader of the Akatsuki, whom we now know is a former student of Jiraiya's going by the name 'Pain'."

"And you stayed awake trying to determine what the message meant?" Erisu was aware that, despite his attempt to hide it, Kakashi was mourning Jiraiya as much as everyone else.

"Erisu..." He looked sidelong at her then, his dark eye a pool of presentiment. "...how much do you know about The Sage of the Six Paths?"

She faltered. The seriousness of his tone was genuinely concerning. "Only what I've read... That he was the forefather of ninjutsu and created the moon." She involuntarily took a step back. "But that was just a legend... A creation myth."

That dour shadow in his gaze chilled Erisu to the bone and confirmed her fears.

"It's...true?" Her legs trembled weakly. If the Legendary Sage was real than what other tales of deities were reality? If a man could really harness enough power to create an object as massive as a moon...what could others be capable of? Could they really ascend to divinity..?

"There's no evidence that the stories are entirely true," Kakashi said, as if reading her thoughts, "but one aspect of The Sage has been proven to be real."

Erisu closed the gap between them, fingers dug into the scarf like some sort of security blanket. "What?"

"The Rinnegan."

"...p-pardon me..?" Impossible. A Dōjutsu such as that _was not possible_.

"The leader of the Akatsuki has the rippled eyes," her mentor confided solemnly, "Fukasaku-sama saw a total of six 'Pains' with the same eyes."

" _Six_?"

"Risu, you're repeating me again." He sighed and burrowed his hands in his pockets. "As insane as it sounds it's true. Jiraiya-sama managed to kill one of the Pains and got its corpse back to us for study. I was at the autopsy yesterday and saw his eyes myself. It's definitely the Rinnegan."

It was indigestible. At last Erisu regained her voice. "But Kakashi!" A nurse glanced her way and Erisu dropped her voice to a whisper. "If that's what kind of threat the village is facing than surely you-"

" _Erisu_ ," he cut her off warningly, "it's non-negotiable. _Drop it_."

"Drop what?" Broke in a cheery voice, "the bass?" Sota and the rest of Team Yuma rounded the corner, Sota playing air guitar. He vocalized a rock riff and struck a pose. "Take it away, Kakashi-senpai!"

"Idiot!" Kiyomi smacked him upside the head, knocking his bandana into his eyes. "They were obviously in the grips of a conversation fueled by sexual tension!"

"As if!" Yuma snapped. "They're discussing strictly professional shinobi topics." His white eyes flashed. "Isn't that right, Senpai?" The honorific was a warning. Kakashi merely blinked in response, clearly not in the mood for Yuma's drama.

"Kiyomi, Sota-san, Yuma-senpai," Erisu greeted them all, "what're you doing here? And so early?"

"We're gonna pop in on mum before the mission," Sota told her pleasantly, dropping his invisible instrument and pushing up his forehead protector, "she's been very ill and complaining that I don't visit enough-"

"He literally visits her ever day," Yuma interjected coldly.

"-so I thought we might treat her to breakfast before preparing for the trip," Sota continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "and since she wakes up ridiculously early we had to come at the break of dawn."

"Breakfast?" Erisu queried, "are you taking her out to a restaurant?"

Sota laughed aloud. "A restaurant?" He shook his head. "Have you seen my mum? She'd terrify the other patrons!"

"Sota..." Kiyomi scolded, "don't talk about your mother like that!"

"Defending your future mother-in-law, eh Kiyomi?" Yuma sneered.

"'Mother-in-law'?" Erisu clapped her hands together excitedly. " _Yatta_!" She bounced on the spot, ignoring the twanging pain in her leg. "Betrothal! Sota-san, is it true?"

Sota's melted cheeks reddened. " _Ehh_? No!" His black eyes flicked anxiously to Kiyomi as if he was worried she'd strike him. "Us? _Pffff_!"

Erisu was crestfallen, Sota was flustered, and Kiyomi had vanished behind a curtain of jet black hair.

" _Anyways_ ," Yuma drawled loudly, "It's good we crossed paths, Senpai."

"Do you need something, Yuma-san?" Kakashi's voice was completely uninterested and Erisu felt herself wilt further in the presence of their silent challenge.

 _Not again_...

"I do actually." The Hyūga's emotions were as obvious as if they were splattered on the walls in neon paint. "Recap of mission specifics, _Taichou_. Obviously." Erisu inspected him with pink eyes, trying to determine what'd put him in this mood.

"That would be useful," Sota agreed, getting over his embarrassment, "when are we leaving exactly?"

"We meet at the Main Gate at 1600 hours," Kakashi told them all curtly, "you should have already memorized your instructions before destroying them. Now, if that's all..." He placed his hand over Erisu's tailbone then, the intimate touch petrifying her. "...we need to prepare for the mission."

Kiyomi elbowed Sota in the ribs, the two of them grinning in a most undignified way, while Yuma positively fumed. His pupiless eyes roved over them, taking in Erisu's nightdress visible beneath the Anbu cloak and the scarf around her neck. Erisu almost recoiled due to the suspicion that Kakashi was actually trying to get a reaction out of his old comrade. She considered sidestepping out of his reach to diffuse the tension...

"Senpai..." Yuma began in that pompous intone.

"Hm? Was there something else?" Kakashi squinted his eye into a fake smile of leisure.

"Actually yeah," Yuma replied with a fabulous flick of his bangs, "your pet wanted to see you."

 _Pet_? Erisu hadn't the faintest as to who Yuma was referring but clearly Kakashi did. His grip on her waist tightened slightly with annoyance.

"Yamato is not my pet," the silver haired man said cooly, "where is he?"

"With Shizune-san in Yusha's room," Kiyomi answered, "they're going over means of keeping Yusha under control."

"Thank you, Kiyomi-san," Kakashi replied courteously.

"Oh and Kakashi," Yuma put on an air of helpfulness, "your _other_ teenaged, pupil was looking for you as well. You know the one, young, slender girl, who specializes in medical-ninjutsu? Oh wait, maybe that's not specific enough."

Kakashi released Erisu and turned on Yuma, his eye narrowed. "Can I speak to you privately, Yuma?"

The Hyūga folded his arms. "No."

With a thoughtful tilt of his head Kakashi made a decision. "Alright then. What are you insinuating?"

" _Psh_! As if you don't know!" Yuma leaned forward threateningly. "I'm only pointing out what everyone else is bound to have noticed already."

Kakashi's dark eye narrowed further, a mere slit. "Elaborate then."

"You obviously have a thing for a certain type of girl: obedient, compassionate, short haired, _young_ ," Yuma said, voice raising.

"Oh do I now?" Kakashi was giving him a chance to back out or suffer the consequences.

"You do." Yuma sauntered forward and the veins in his temples throbbed. "And I know why."

Kakashi's fingers twitched above his kunai holster and although his posture was slack Erisu could tell that every muscle was tensed.

Yuma pushed his face close to his former partner and soon-to-be captain and sneered. " _Because they remind you of Rin_."

Kakashi held his gaze, so still he wasn't even breathing. Yuma's Byakugan was stripping him down, mapping his system and finding every pressure point, both physical and emotional. Then Kakashi relaxed, slipping his hands back into his pockets. Erisu let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as did Sota and Kiyomi.

"So is that it?" Kakashi rolled his shoulders restlessly. "We were getting along, Yuma. But now you've learned something that leads you to believe Erisu and I are involved. So now you've decided to make cheap shots to try and make yourself feel better?" He shook his wild hair in disappointment.

"You being involved is a fact!" Yuma snapped, "I can tolerate your longing looks and affectionate whispers but when you're parading her around in her nightdress and your scarf... She clearly spent the night with you, old man, and for all I know that scarf is covering up hickies or bite marks even! Way to rub it in! Why don't you just propose if you're going to be so obvious?"

Kakashi looked at him, completely unfazed. "Grow up, Yuma," he told him in the same voice he addressed Naruto with. "You're a jōnin, act like it."

Yuma seethed silently but Kiyomi's eyes sparkled, appreciating his subtle degrading of her captain. Sota merely looked confused.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'm needed by Yamato and Shizune." He swept past Team Yuma, pausing only to touch Erisu's shoulder gently and whisper too quietly for anyone else to hear, "I'll see you soon, your kimono is at my house and the window is open. Stay with your friends."

She barely had time to mumble her farewells before he turned a corner out of sight. Erisu was suddenly left with a horrible sensation that her stomach was full of ice. He'd left her behind.

"He's smooth," Kiyomi commented once Kakashi was gone.

"Yeah," Sota agreed, staring after the copy ninja, "I'd fuck him."

"S-Sota-san!" Erisu stammered but Kiyomi only sputtered with laughter.

"What?" The disfigured shinobi shrugged helplessly. "He knows how to reach the human heart!"

Yuma scoffed. "Yeah, 'Chidori'."

Kiyomi kneed him in the gut so hard he keeled right over. "Don't make jokes, Taichou," she cautioned him as he gasped in surprise, "it'll get you killed."

* * *

~Kakashi~

"Senpai." Tenzō straightened professionally as Kakashi entered the hospital room.

"What's the report, Tenzō?"

His comrade sizzled. " _Yamato_!" He corrected and Kakashi smirked breath his mask. The younger man's seriousness about his code names was always amusing. "Shizune has already begun the process of bringing Yusha back to consciousness."

"Tsunade-sama said she wanted him bound to you for the trip. Have you the means to do so? He doesn't look very heavy but..."

"I've already practiced making a wooden holding canister for him, similar to Kazekage-sama's gourd," Tenzō informed him, "Sai volunteered to pretend to be Yusha so I've already tested its tensile strength and found a method of wearing it where I retain most of my mobility."

"Good." Kakashi looked over at the dark haired woman tending to the restrained coma patient. "I had no doubt you'd come up with a solution." He knew his praise wasn't lost on Tenzō. "Shizune-san, what's his condition?"

"His injuries are almost healed," she reported, "he did have a rather severe concussion from hitting his head during the interrogation but the swelling has gone down, and there are no fractures to his skull and I haven't found any signs of brain damage." Yusha was still bandaged and covered in gauze but was looking better than the last time Kakashi had seen him. "His nose has been set and should heal normally," Shizune continued, "his broken teeth have been crowned and repaired, and the superficial abrasions and bruising to his face should be fully cleared up within a couple days."

"So soon?"

"He regenerates almost as quickly as Naruto, probably thanks to the shikigami."

Kakashi crossed the room and examined the lethargic youth, shackled to the bed by his ankles and wrists and bound by a thick strap across his chest. His golden hair had been combed back into a bun and his head was covered in a rubber cap that was dotted with nodules and laced in wires. The electrodes on his scalp and face fed back to an electroencephalogram where his brain waves were being monitored closely. They were slow and lazy but gradually increasing in pace and complexity. He'd be awake soon.

It was hard to decide how Kakashi felt about bringing Yusha along with them. But worse than the strain controlling him would cause, was his presence's potential effect on Erisu. It was possible she'd be emotionally unstable if near her brother.

 _This whole thing is a mess_.

"Yamato," Kakashi said, turning to face the younger man. His colleague's short brown hair was disheveled and his happuri-style forehead protector was slightly askew. "How long have you been here?"

"I'm waiting for the next guard to relieve me of my post actually," he said, covering a yawn with the back of his hand. "I've been watching him since midnight."

"I'll take over for you until they arrive," Kakashi decided aloud, "you should get some rest. I need you in peak condition for our journey."

"Yes, sir." Tenzō adjusted his face armour. "But don't you want me here while he's waking up?"

"That won't be necessary." Kakashi watched as Shizune altered Yusha's IV drip. "He's harmless in this state."

Tenzō grunted in acceptance, though he made it clear he didn't agree. "I'll see you at the gates then, Senpai." He excited, calling over his shoulder, "try not to be late."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head wearily and wandered over to the bed. Yusha's eyelids quivered and the brain waves sped up, spiking and dropping. Shizune injected something into Yusha's saline and increased the drip, simultaneously reading his vitals on the screens.

Yusha's long black lashes, so similar to his sister's, fluttered and his eyes opened slightly. His green irises were foggy and his lids were trembling as he looked around in a sort of delirium.

"Hello," Shizune greeted him softly, "can you hear me?"

Yusha nodded weakly and managed to focus on her face.

"Do you know your name?" Her voice was quiet and gentle, almost motherly.

"Y-Yusha..." He answered in a voice hard to discern. "Yamanaka Yusha."

"Do you know where you are?"

His eyes flickered around uncertainly then fell on Kakashi and narrowed. "Konohagakure, right?" He groaned and coughed pathetically. When he tried to wipe his mouth his hands were stopped short by the shackles. A glance at the bonds and his expression darkened. "Still a prisoner am I?"

"It's just a precaution," Shizune assured him, "you have a record of violence and self harm. It's for your own protection as much as ours."

"You don't need protection from me." He struggled to sit up but was held fast by the chest strap. "You've got Kakashi of the Sharingan to protect you, don't you Shizune-chan?"

Shizune said nothing, only backing up slightly and folding her hands in front of her. She looked over at Kakashi and gave him permission to approach with a dip of her head.

"Yusha," Kakashi began as he looked down at the beaten kid. "What do you know about Shikigami?"

He was completely nonplussed. "Gods of Death?"

" _Shiki_ gami," Kakashi repeated, reading every facial twitch, "not _Shini_ gami. I'm talking about spirits conjured by an Onmyōji to do their bidding."

"Oh! The ones that are sealed into origami mannikins right?" Yusha seemed to have forgotten his scorn. It seemed he also shared his sister's curiosity. "I heard about them as a kid just like oni and other Yokai. What do they have to do with anything?"

Kakashi examined the EEG and ECG monitors. Nothing in his thought waves, heart rate, or respiration implied that he knew anything... Perhaps Inoichi was right ad Yusha had been possessed without his knowledge.

He changed angles. "Your mother, Aya, does she study Onmyōdō?"

Yusha bristled. "Are you actually asking if my mother's a _witch_?" He strained against his restraints. "My mother is a priestess! She'd never demean herself by associating with demons and ghosts!"

Kakashi leaned over Yusha's face. "What if your mother lied?"

His heart rate increased and his breathing became irregular. "She'd _never_."

"Isn't that what you said when I first told you about the curse she put on your sister?"

Yusha's eyes darted from Kakashi to Shizune and back again. "I only just woke up," he complained hotly, "you can't start interrogating me again right away! It's bad for my health." He shot a hopeful look back at Shizune. "Isn't that right Shizune-chan?"

"Yusha." Kakashi's somber tone returned Yusha's attention. "I'm not here to question you again, not really, but any information you have on your mother's abilities or what's been done to your sister would be most valuable."

"Why would I help _you_?" He demanded, "you kidnapped me, imprisoned me, _tortured_ me! I hope my mother kills you all."

Kakashi chuckled humourlessly. "That would be a tall order for her."

"Don't be so sure," the boy sneered, "she has powers you can't imagine. If she were here I'd ask her to give you a full demonstration."

"Well, you might get that opportunity. I'm taking a couple friends of mine to pay your mother a little visit, you included."

All the colour drained from Yusha's face. "You mean...you found her?"

"Actually, you did." Kakashi sheafed through some papers on the bedside table. "After Risu put you under her Nightmare your uncle invaded your mind and unraveled all your tedious thoughts. So..." He turned back to Yusha and crinkled his eye into a smile. "Looks like you did help us after all."


	47. Chapter 45: Ulterior Motives

**CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE**

 _ **Ulterior Motives**_

~Erisu~

The curtains of the hospital room were drawn, leaving the room dim and dreary when Erisu followed Team Yuma inside. Sota's voice was a brave attempt at cheer but was tight and high with nerves as he called into the gloom.

"Kaachan!" His voice was unanswered. "Good morning, Kaachan. Are you awake?"

Still there was no response.

"That's odd," Kiyomi murmured, dark eyes flitting around the still and silent living area. "Is she not here?"

"She's here," Erisu assured them as she picked up the faint trace of Yuki's suffering from behind the privacy screens.

Sota lead the way inside, Kiyomi on his heels, while Yuma and Erisu followed more hesitantly. The Hyūga man strolled across the tatami mats and dropped into a living chair with a scornful expression while Erisu lingered near the door feeling out of place. Yuma was pretending he didn't care that Yuki was dying but Erisu knew that no one present was fooled by his farce. Why he chose to feign indifference was the real mystery.

With round black eyes full of worry, Sota vanished behind the screens. There was a brief silence before-

" _MONSTER_!"

A boulder burst from behind the screens. Sota scrambled aside just as the rock smashed into the wall, splitting the panels and shattering the photographs. Yuki leapt after him and sealed an earth sign. The floor trembled and cracked at hunks of concrete broke free and hurled themselves at her son.

"Taichou, do something!" Kiyomi cried as they both hastened from harm's way. Yuma merely gawked as another barrage of concrete assaulted his comrade. "Do something!" She screamed again.

"I can't stop her without hurting her!" He yelled back, ducking a hunk of concrete.

"Mother it's me!" Sota bellowed as he dodged another flurry of attacks. "It's Sota!"

" _I don't know who you are_!" She shrieked. She made to sign again but Erisu slipped behind her and planted her folded fingers on the old woman's back.

"Chakra Transference Jutsu," she whispered as she pulled the woman's energy away and caught her, lowering the trembling and maddened woman to the floor.

" _Konoha will never fall_!" Yuki croaked as her glassy eyes grew unfocused. " _We'll win this war! You monsters won't get to my son_..."

"Hush," Erisu soothed her, "Konoha won. Your son is safe."

"He is..?" Yuki stared blindly at Erisu as the medical-nin sent chakra back into her again, this time to heal.

"Of course he is," she answered, "he's a chūnin now and a splendid shinobi."

"Chūnin..?" Yuki's eyes dampened and leaked. "Oh I'm so proud... Thank you, Somenia-chan..." The disfigured woman lost consciousness just as a nurse and security appeared.

"What happened here?" The security ninja demanded, "was there an intruder? Did one of you attack the patient?" Next to him the nurse was beside herself as she assessed the damage.

"My...my mother attacked me," Sota managed weakly, "we came to give her breakfast but she..." He lost his voice so Erisu took over.

"If someone could assist me in getting Kobayashi-san back to bed please? She needs rest and fluids." The shinobi hurried through the wreckage and lifted the frail and burned woman back to her bed as Erisu turned to the nurse. "Kobayashi-san's memory and judgement are degrading," she told the nurse in a low voice so that Sota wouldn't overhear. "She failed to recognize her own son and seemed to believe she was still fighting in the war. I'd recommend prescribing some cholinesterase inhibitors to help alleviate the worst of these symptoms. It's likely she's developing dementia."

The nurse scrawled everything down on her clipboard. "I'll report this to Tsunade-sama," the nurse said, "but who are you?"

"Hakuchō Erisu," she answered quickly, "Hatake Kakashi's pupil and a medical-ninja. Excuse me." She didn't wait to be excused and wobbled over to Sota. He was blanche-faced and rigid, unable to fathom why his own mother didn't recognize him. Beside him Yuma and Kiyomi were bickering.

"You could've blocked her chakra flow like Erisu did," Kiyomi was saying accusingly, "instead you just stood there gaping like a moron!"

"Erisu-chan doesn't have access to the chakra system like a Hyūga," Yuma drawled scornfully, "she transfers chakra, not inhibits it. God, you're ignorant."

"' _Ignorant_ '?" Kiyomi gripped the hilt of her sword.

"That's right, but maybe that word's too complex for you," he sneered, "how about unsophisticated, or incognizant?"

"What are you a dictionary now?" Kiyomi advanced on him. " _This_ is your problem, Yuma, you're all talk and nothing to back it up! You insult and degrade people to make yourself feel better about your own pathetic, mewling, little life. But when you're actually needed you don't act! Cause you're a goddamned coward!"

"Oh I am, am I?" He leered down at her with cold white eyes. "You're the one who picks fights with random whores to try and prove that you're better than them, when you're just another brainless slut!"

Erisu had heard enough. "Both of you, out. _Now_." She gave them each a deadly pink-eyes stare and they sullenly vacated the hospital room. Erisu spotted something gleaming in the wreckage and stooped to pick it up. It was the photograph of Yuki and Sota before the acid attack had melted their faces away. She was beautiful, with thick, wavy hair of the softest brown and large doe eyes like sparkling discs of obsidian glass. She was hugging the handsome, ecstatic Sota against her flack jacket, her headband holding back her bangs like a tiara.

It was immoral that such wonderful people had to suffer... but then, all shinobi had to suffer...

Erisu slipped the broken photograph into a deep pocket in her cloak. "Sota-san," she murmured, "come on now, let's go." She took his hand gingerly and lead him into the hall. He trailed after her in a sort of daze, too shocked to register his surroundings.

In the deserted corridor Yuma and Kiyomi stood with their backs to each other, both faces contorted with fury and indignation. Erisu guided Sota out of their hearing range and turned him to meet her eyes.

"Sota," she began, gentle yet firm, "your mother wasn't trying to hurt you. You know that, right?" She searched his hollow black eyes and found nothing but numb resignation.

"I knew she was getting confused," he said in a hoarse whisper, "but I never thought...never imagined..."

"It might be difficult to understand, but in attacking you she was trying to protect you..." Erisu sought the words. "...she-"

"Called me a monster," he finished for her. His face was empty, completely void of any emotion. He was just...

"Sota." She forced him to look at her. "Your mother doesn't think you're a monster. All she cares about is your happiness, she's terrified that you'll blame yourself after her passing. She begged me to make sure you knew how much she loved you, how she never thought it was your fault..." He wasn't hearing a word she was saying. "You are her _son_ ; you're _everything_ to her."

"But Erisu..." He covered his marred face with his hand. "...she doesn't even know me."

Erisu pulled his hand away and placed her palm over the dripping, pockmarked flesh of his cheek. " _She does_. She's just sick. Your mother is still in there, you know that."

He searched her eyes desperately. "Do I though? I mean just look at me... I'm-"

"My friend," she cut in fiercely, "you're my friend. You're a shinobi of the Leaf and your mother's son. Never doubt that."

His eyes glistened and dropped. Erisu retracted her hand to tug the Anbu cloak closer around her. Sota inhaled deeply, weary and trembling, but when he met her eyes again they were sobered and calm.

"Thank you, Erisu. I..." He swallowed and took another breath. "I needed to hear that."

She hugged him, tight and comforting just as he'd hugged her all those nights before. He chuckled in embarrassment and patted her head.

"Y'know, I always assumed after Mum was gone I'd just..." He rubbed the back of his head and averted his face. "...be alone."

Erisu glanced back at Kiyomi and Yuma. Their anger seemed to have reduced though they were still pointedly ignoring one another.

"Remember what you told me?" Erisu murmured, turning back to Sota, "about treating Kiyomi-san like a queen?"

He flushed, caught off guard. "I-I was drunk," he stammered nervously, "I didn't think you were even listening. Those were the ramblings of an emotionally unstable fool..."

"You're not a fool and of course I was listening." She smiled softly. "The reason I'm bringing it up is because you need to know that to _her_ you'll never be a monster. You're her king."

Sota's eyes widened and fazed past her to stare at Kiyomi in astonishment. "You mean she..." His cockeyed orbs snapped back to Erisu. "Did she say something?"

Erisu folded her arms and smirked. "Why don't you ask _her_?"

He hesitated. "But she's so beautiful and I'm-"

" _Also beautiful_ ," she insisted, "go to her. Make her your queen."

Sota had gone still, eyes fixed on Erisu with what could only be described as wonder. "You actually, _truly_ know what people want and feel, don't you..?"

"And what they fear," she added, "and I can tell that you're afraid that you'll never get the chance to confess to Kiyomi-san..."

He bowed his head, all the answer she needed to know she was right.

"Can you guess what she fears?"

He looked at Kiyomi sharply, as if seeing her for the first time. "You're not saying that she... She doesn't actually think I'd reject her? _Her_? She's the most resplendent woman..." He trailed off and scoffed, eyes still fastened to the woman down the hall, but his derision was obviously false. Erisu knew that he had always suspected Kiyomi's affections and that it was only his own self consciousness that had prevented him from pursuing her sooner.

"Just ask her," Erisu urged, "you needn't spend your lives alone, not when you can spend them together."

Sota smiled uncertainly. "Well," he said slowly, "what's life without a little gamble, eh?"

"Indeed." Erisu bowed slightly as he strolled over to his comrades.

"Kiyomi." The dark haired woman looked up, surprised by how calm he sounded after the chaos with his mother. Sota grinned. "I dropped the breakfast we brought for my mum when she jumped at me. Wanna go get some dango?"

She blinked, dumbfounded. "Dango? For breakfast?"

"I know how you love sweets." He twined his fingers in hers, subsequently turning her face scarlet. "And I'm starving. What'd ya say?"

She narrowed those skeptical burgundy hues. "Only if you're buying."

Sota's grin widened. "Sounds good to me." He cast an almost smug look over at Yuma who was obviously baffled. "See you at 1600 hours, Taichou!" He winked at Erisu and lead Kiyomi away.

Yuma found it hard to grasp what'd just transpired and eyed Erisu suspiciously. "Your doing, I assume?"

"So to speak." She couldn't hide her joy that Sota was finally accepting that Kiyomi shared his feelings.

"What are you then?" Yuma asked peevishly, "Konoha's matchmaker?"

"When need be," she answered cooly.

"Why?" His tone was downright petulant. "What do you get out of making others fall in love?"

"I don't _make_ them fall in love," she told him, "I merely help them come to the realization that they already had such feelings. I give them a little nudge in the right direction." He stared at her steadily, eyes colder than ice. "As for what I get out of it the answer is simple: knowing I helped them, even in the smallest way, to achieve happiness or heal their hurt is all the reward I need."

Yuma rolled his eyes. "Right. And am I to believe you refuse yen from your missions too?"

Erisu took a moment to control her building annoyance before replying. "Is it really so hard for you to believe that someone might actually want to do good without expecting something in return? Is it impossible for you to fathom that someone might have no ulterior motives?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, flinging his hands in the air. "Because _everyone_ does! I do, so does Hinata-hime and the First-Fucking-Hokage! Even your sainted Kakashi is out for some sort of payment for his deeds! It's always been everyone for themselves since the first time humankind crawled out of the mud."

He stalked forward and glared down at her with those pitiless eyes that could see her very soul. "It may have escaped your notice," he said scornfuly, "what in your 'selfless' quest to mend everyone's broken hearts, but that's reality, Erisu. Shinobi are born and bred to steal, torture, exploit, and kill. Every last one of us. From the well paid medics and secretive Anbu, right down to the dog walkers and babysitters. Humans are selfish, greedy scum just looking for their cut, me included. Why should I think you're any different?"

Erisu was at a loss for words, simply looking at him, stricken. Finally she found her voice. "So when you carried me to the secret training grounds of your clan, watched over me while I was unconscious, believed me when I said Emi-chan contacted me and then supported me before the Hokage... _All of that_ was just to achieve your own selfish ends?"

Yuma back-stepped, brow creased. "W-what?"

"You said you'd believe me even if I said my cat would be the next Hokage." She pulled the scarf up to hide her lower face. "Was that just another lie to try and outdo Kakashi-sensei?"

"Of course not," he said hastily, "I do believe what you said about your sister, and I will back you in the mission to stop The Body-"

"But only because you get something out of it?" She tilted her head inquisitively. "Did you think that if you were the one at my bedside when I awoke my affections would somehow transfer from Kakashi to you? ...even though you declared you'd no longer actively interfere with our relationship."

"When I said that-"

"Or did you think you'd get some sort of reward from Tsunade-sama by backing my claims if they proved true? Oh." Her eyes narrowed. "Now I get it. When I didn't react as you'd anticipated you reverted back to belittling me in front of others, bringing up the deceased to try and illicit a reaction from Kakashi so that you'd seem more level headed by comparison... And now you're accusing _me_ of selfishness because I showed your teammates compassion and helped them on the path to finding companionship?" She shook her head and laughed wryly. "Unbelievable."

"Erisu-chan," he broke in, "that's not what-"

"What then?" She demanded, "why do you repeatedly humiliate me? You claim to have my best interests at heart but then you degrade me in front of my friends by making lewd insinuations about my sensei and myself! What do you get out of it? Answer me that!"

"If you're referring to me pointing out that walking around in your nightgown and Kakashi's clothes..." He began heatedly.

"Want to know why I'm dressed like this?" Her voice rose in challeng. "He let me stay at his house because I was grief stricken by the impossible passing of Jiraiya-sama and Itachi-senpai! Then he carried me to the hospital this morning because I was bleeding out and nearly dead from hypothermia!" She snapped the pin from her bandages and tore them open to expose her grisly, lacerated flesh. He backpedaled in alarm and revulsion. "He saved my life!" She shouted, " _Again_! And you..." She took a deep, furious breath as she started towards him. "...you had the audacity to bring up Nohara-san? To imply that he's some pervert preying on his underage students due to some fetish for girls who remind him of his dead childhood friend?" She was trembling now as she tried to contain the anger bubbling forth. "How _dare_ you?"

"I was only pointing out that the last girl who confessed her affections to him , well, she didn't last very long," Yuma said quickly as he retreated from Erisu, "Kakashi has shown an interest in you, since you're such a catch, but he might find it quicker just to stick his lighting blade in your-"

She slapped him so hard her whole arm shook and he was knocked off balance. Her palm stung and his cheek reddened rapidly as her finger marks welted across his sharp cheekbone. Erisu was breathing fast and shallow with absolute fury as she flicked her hand as if trying to shake off the residual pain.

" _What is wrong with you_?" She demanded in a venomous whisper.

Yuma touched the livid handprint on his face in befuddlement then looked at her with round eyes. "You slapped me," he said rather stupidly.

"About time too," she retorted, "I ought to have done so ages ago!" Then she turned and stumbled away, bandages trailing on the smooth tiles behind her. Every time she was alone with that insolent snob they ended up fighting, and the very fact of that enraged her.

"Erisu-chan," he called after her, voice almost frightened, "you can't go off alone! What about your leg?"

"Damn my leg," she shot over her shoulder and turned the corner to leave him far behind.

* * *

~Kakashi

 _The real one is not among them_. Well, it obviously meant something since Jiraiya had used his last ounce of strength to write it before his death...it must be the secret to defeating Pain. But how could one kill the almighty Sage of the Six Paths? _Six Paths...Six Pains..._

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The shinobi snapped his head up from his book and caught sight of Sakura and Sai hurrying towards him. Kakashi knew that Yuma had only made such inappropriate accusations out of jealousy and spite. He understood why the Hyūga acted so foolishly but however he might be feeling couldn't justify berating Kakashi's students and bringing up Rin... A low blow, unforgivable.

"Hey, Sakura," Kakashi called as her and Sai came to a stop beside him. "Sai." He dipped his head at the pale teen. "What's up?"

"Well..." Sakura was clearly troubled. She'd been consumed by stress and worry ever since the chūnin exams she'd taken when she was twelve... "It's about Naruto."

Kakashi snapped his novel closed and gave her his attention.

"There's been talk among the Elders about keeping Naruto confined to the village," Sakura told him trepidatiously, "I overheard Shizune-senpai discussing it with another jōnin. Tsunade-Shisou is strongly opposed of course, and has been sending Naruto on missions anyways but now that Sasuke-kun's been taken by the Akatsuki and with Jiraiya-sama..." She trailed off.

Kakashi understood. "You're worried Naruto's going to do something reckless, aren't you?"

She nodded fiercely. "He's been really depressed, he's not acting like himself at all!"

"Sakura." He cupped her shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. " _He's grieving_."

Her pale green eyes glistened with emotion. "I know, but what if he tries to go after Pain alone?"

"Everything will be fine," he promised even though they both knew that he was just saying that. He thought some real assurance was needed. "Naruto's going to train with the Great Toad Sages on Mount Myōboku for a while," Kakashi told them both, "he'll be hidden from the Akatsuki there and will have time to meditate and reflect on Jiraiya-sama's passing while he trains."

"Kakashi-sensei is right, Sakura," Sai said softly, "Naruto just needs some time to mourn. I've read that mood swings are a common symptom of grief." Sakura dropped her eyes, clearly still worried.

"I know you're concerned about him," Kakashi went on, "but the best thing you can do for Naruto, and for Sasuke too, is to take this time to study and train. Can you do that?"

Her face hardened. "Yes, sensei." Then she looked up at him, pink hair swishing around her face. "Would you train me?"

Kakashi felt a stab of guilt, as he always did when Sakura asked him this. He'd been so concerned with disciplining Naruto and trying to guide Sasuke that he'd often neglected Sakura who, when compared to her teammates, hadn't seemed like as much of a priority.

"Sorry, Sakura," he said kindly, patting her head, "I'm going off on a rather long mission and won't be around to teach you."

Sakura lowered her eyes and glared at the scorched grass beneath her sandal-boots. But when she spoke she was wearing her signature fake smile. "Of course, sensei. Good luck on your mission."

"Yeah," he agreed, with an equally false eye smile of his own, "I'll need it." Sai observed the exchange in silence, like a machine studying human behaviour. Kakashi flipped Icha-Icha back open and started to saunter away. "Maybe Sai could teach you something while I'm gone?"

As he departed Kakashi tried to contain his building sense of inadequacy as a sensei. He'd clearly failed Sasuke, the boy was heading down a road of vengeance and hate. As for Naruto... Well, Jiraiya was the one to take credit for the boy's success. And then there was Sakura.

Kakashi was aware that he was always lying to Sakura, trying to keep her from the dark truths of the shinobi life, comforting her when she cried, catching her when she fell. She'd stood on the sidelines and watched Sasuke's fall from grace and Naruto's rise in power, torn between her loyalty to the Leaf and lingering love for the deserter...

She'd nearly been caught in the middle of Sasuke's chidori and Naruto's rasengan... The very thought of that made Kakashi's palms sweat. Sasuke and Naruto's negligence in that moment had almost killed her.

Her parents were civilians and she'd always seemed too innocent for this career path, with her thoughts on boys and romance from the start. She'd grown since then, in fact she was downright dangerous, but part of Kakashi wished she could've just had a normal life. Wished she hadn't had to suffer the way ninjas always did...

He wondered, as he walked away from her without a backwards glance, if this was what it felt like to be a father.

* * *

"You're late." Yuma wore a face like thunder and a long white, winter cloak. "You were the one who said to be at the gates at 1600 hours and yet here you are: arriving last at a deplorable 1620."

"My bad." Kakashi adjusted the strap of his rucksack and popped the collar of his cloak. "But you see there was a fire at the produce market and I had to put out the flames with a water jutsu-"

"You were reading your porno, weren't you?" Yuma interrupted scathingly.

 _Geez_ , Kakashi thought, tired already, _I'm going to be stuck with this prick for how long?_ "It's not porn, it's a romantic comedy," he corrected, "Icha-Icha is an award winning series for its compelling plot and-"

"Pornographic content?" Kiyomi suggested, drawing a snigger from Sota.

"Actually, it helped in the decoding of a vital message about the Akatsuki," he told them coldy as he swept his eye over the assembled party.

"Wait..." Tenzō's almond shaped eyes widened. "You're not saying that novel was the key to Jiraiya-sama's code?"

"Naruto figured it out due to his familiarity with his master's penmanship quirks," Kakashi explained briefly. He was more interested in the wooden gourd on the Anbu's back than he was in reliving his less than pleasant experience at intelligence headquarters.

Tenzō seemed unsure whether he should be amused or embarrassed. "So...you had to read it _out loud_..." He struggled to keep his face straight. "...in front of the deciphering squad..?"

Kakashi pretended not to hear. "Erisu," he said instead of answering, "how're you feeling?"

The girl was half hidden behind Tenzō, notably as far from Yuma as possible, and looking positively miserable. "Stable," she replied, "the new symptoms seem to have stopped for now so there's nothing to worry about."

He considered her for a moment, reading the stress in the lines of her face, the tension in her stance... Something unpleasant had transpired, he was certain. But he also noticed that she was still wearing his scarf and was now fully dressed and armed. Her bandages were clean and fresh. Good signs.

"Alright," he said authoritatively, "we will be travelling in single line formation. I'll be in the lead because of my sense of smell and leadership in this mission. Behind me will be Erisu, due to her sensory abilities. Next is Yamato for to his unique jutsu that allows him to fight in both close and long range, and also to keep Yusha out of harm's way."

"Is that who's in the gourd?" Sota queried, eying the wooden canister bound to Tēnzo's back and riddled with life support systems.

"Yes," Kakashi said, unconcerned by Sota's skepticism. "After Yamato is Kiyomi. Her fire style attacks and tōdachi skills are very diverse and will be ideal if attacked from the flanks. Behind her is Sota. With defensive earth shield capabilities he'll be a good buffer come a rear attack and will be close enough to Yuma to make up for his lower sensory capabilities."

"And I'm in the rear?" Yuma tossed his head and started towards the gate. "Byakugan, blah blah, rearguard, blah. Let's go already, _Taichou_."

"That's no way to address a superior!" Tenzō began angrily but Kakashi waved him off. There would be enough drama in the Land of Iron and he had no time or patience for it within their ranks.

"Alright everyone, formation now." The shinobi fell into line obediently and they set off through the vast arch towards the north with the autumn sun setting to their left. Finally, after months of useless waiting around they were embarking to the frozen iron lands and leaving the dense forest of the Land of Fire behind.

Whatever they reaped from this mission it had to be worth more than sowing nothing at all.

* * *

o~O~o

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 _Sorry this chapter took so long but with the winter solstice and the annual solar cycle reaching yet another round of Sol I've been unpleasantly busy._

 _I hope you all had a splendid Yuletime-Christmas-Hanukah-Diwali-Quanza-Krampusnacht? ...um..._

 _...a happy Non-denominational December Holiday and I wish you all good fortune in the upcoming Year of the Rooster!_

 _~Elle_

 _PS._

 _I'll try to be more punctual with my chapter updates. (but I've been binge watching Game of Thrones-er, I mean...) I'd like to be uploading a new segment every week and will try to hold to that as a New Year's Resolution sort of dealio- nah, fuck that, just trust in me. Scout's Honour._


	48. Chapter 46: Taphonomy

**CHAPTER FORTY-SIX**

 _ **Taphonomy**_

* * *

(( _Five Years Ago_ ))

* * *

~Erisu

" _Fire_!"

The shout startled Erisu awake and she flung off her covers, wide eyed and confused. Her bedroom was completely dark and almost cold with the window open to let in the winter breeze. The fresh and chilling smell of the winter night carried no trace of fire. Around her the starchy plaster walls were covered in hand drawn art, the pencil drawings overlapping each other in places. The intricate graphite illustrations were just a wash of grey in the low light around Erisu as she regarded the door with intrigue from her stuffy covered bed. It seemed normal enough a night, but then the usual quiet and almost unsettling stillness of the house was broken. There was an unfamiliar ruckus, crashing and banging as objects tumbled and broke. Then she heard it...the hissing and sputtering, the crackle of flames.

"Everybody out!" Rokurou's husky voice ordered from beyond her door. "We've got a fire!"

With a steady hand Erisu slid open the door and the world was suddenly illuminated. The hall was a blaze of orange light and fluctuating shadows. Her mother was just a dressing robe as she fled through the front door with baby Emi in her arms and Rokurou was already gone.

Erisu turned her head curiously to the source of light to see a wall of flames pouring from the bathroom to leap across the narrow paneled hallway. The red tongues lapped at the wood, rice paper curling and staining black from the smoke that hid the ceiling from sight. Beyond the fire stood Yusha in only a pair of leaf patterned pajama pants with his bare chest glistening with sweat.

Though his face was nearly indiscernible through the heat waves, he managed to meet her eyes and she found them alight with excitement. He grinned at her and jumped through the flames, his long hair smoking as it was singed, and bolted up the hall.

"Look at it go!" He whooped as he pranced by. "Like fucking kindling!"

Erisu observed her elder brother as he dashed out into the night in naught but his trousers. He'd always reveled in chaos and danger... unlike her other brother Rūka who was more thoughtful and kind.

 _Rūka_!

Erisu swept into her younger brother's room with purpose, perfectly calm as the screens lit up around her. The boy was frozen, eyes like blue lamps dancing with the flames as he watched the house falling apart around them. The cat stuffy she'd handed down to him was clutched so tight she could see his knuckle bones through his skin.

"Rūka-kun," she said placidly as she took his hand, "cover your nose and mouth."

He pulled his t-shirt over his lower face obediently, saying nothing, and followed her lead. Erisu guided him back into the smouldering hall. The fire swarmed after them with surprising speed as everything around it combusted, the very air fueling its feast. Erisu kept a brisk but orderly pace as she evaded the spreading flames. The heat was suffocating. Photographs fell from the walls as the timber frame buckled and shook. Then with an earsplitting bang the windows exploded outward from the heat. Beneath their bare feet the floorboards cracked open as they dried out, splintering and scraping their skin. The smoke was thickening and soon Erisu's eyes were watering as she tried to see through the smog.

At last they stumbled upon the sliding door, glass already shattered, and burst into the cold night. The earth was damp and frozen on Erisu's soles as she ushered Rūka away from the blaze. Fresh air had never tasted so good.

Yusha had danced off to assist Rokurou in tossing buckets of water through the bathroom window while a blathering neighbour rushed off for help.

Erisu turned to take in the sight. She stood on the frosty lawn with her hair unbound and stinking of soot but she couldn't help but smile. She was standing there, barefoot and in her nightdress too, looking like a complete fool. It was frankly ridiculous.

Around her everyone was mad with panic. Rokurou was a mess, up to his elbows in mud and ash as he poured water through the crackling window in vain with Aya fluttering uselessly beside him shouting orders. Next to them Yusha was cackling and playing tag with the ravenous tongues of fire, shooting his hands in and out of the window like a child with a candle.

Erisu snickered into her hand at their stupidity. They'd never put it out, nor should they. Just as the Kyūbi appeared to punish the evil doings of people, so had the fire started to purge that den of sickness. It was like poetic justice.

 _Let it burn_.

Suddenly her mother was in front of her, shoving Emi into her arms. Erisu barely caught the tiny girl before her mother rushed away again to join the men's firefighting efforts. Emi buried her face in Erisu's mass of silvery hair while Rūka clung to her hip in terror.

"It's alright you two," she told them with a grin, "it's just like the bonfires we have in the summer! Aren't the colours pretty? And look..." She knelt down and rested Emi on her knee, gesturing towards the fire that was now climbing the surrounding trees. "It's so warm! Think we should roast some marshmallows on it?"

Rūka smiled nervously but at that moment their mother's shouting carried over the roar of the flames.

" _This is your doing_!" She shrieked at her husband who was sweating profusely as he filled another bucket from the outdoor faucet. " _You asked God's wrath to smite the unclean! This is his answer! He's punishing you for your crimes_!"

Rokurou answered but his deep raspy voice was lost beneath the din.

"'Didn't think he'd strike _us_ '?" Aya bellowed, "didn't think he acts so quickly, more like! What did you expect? That he'd give you time to abandon us before igniting our home in fire?"

Yusha chortled and tossed his pail aside. "It's a house, mom! Not a damn temple!" He was like a spectre of shadow against the fiery backdrop with only his pale green eyes visible as they glinted in the firelight. "You wanted to leave Konoha anyways. This'll just give us a bit more incentive. Puts the phrase 'light a fire under your ass' a bit more literal, am I right?"

"What are we going to do, Oneesama?" Rūka whispered as he pressed himself close to her side. "We have nowhere to live..."

"Awe cmon, Rūka-kun!" She tousled his hair playfully. "The house doesn't make the home, the people do, and everybody's okay!" Erisu stared into the blinding light of the inferno as branches crashed down from the burning trees above. She'd never have to go back in there, never have to lay in her bed fearing the door would open... She smiled.

 _Let it burn_

Loud twangs sounded as the strings of the grand piano snapped and Aya started wailing.

Erisu would never have to sit on the floor beside Rokurou's chair to stoke the wood stove, never have to brave that unlockable bathroom to bathe... A half-suppressed laugh escaped her.

 _Burn_

Another window blew out with a sound like canon fire, glass shards shooting into the bushes as a massive plume of acrid black smoke burst from the burning gap in the house.

No more spy holes in her bedroom walls or hidden cameras in the shower...

She laughed aloud, throwing her head back as she roared with absolute relief.

 _Burn_

Emi climbed from her arms, eying her warily as Erisu rose and started cheering. Jumping up and down, hooting and laughing with untempered glee.

" _Burn_!" She screamed at the house, " _burn to the ground_!"

Yusha joined her in a caterwaul of insane jubilance as their home was consumed, sparks and embers soaring high as the flames seemed to respond to their gaiety and mirth. Ash and soot showered them like snow, clogging Erisu's sinuses and catching in her wild hair. But all she did was laugh, laughed till the medics arrived, till her throat was hoarse, till every flame had been extinguished and the house was nothing but a charcoal skeleton. She kept laughing through the night and as the sun rose, because she'd never have to go back there. Never have to return to the place where it'd all happened, never have to fear the shadow in her doorframe at night. The house had been consumed by the fire as if by her own emotions had been manifested into tangible wrath. She'd never felt more euphoric.

 _Burn_.

* * *

(( _Present Day_ ))

* * *

~Erisu

The forest had given way to a vast expanse of terraced rice fields. The paddies were golden and ready for the harvest, the seeded grain heavy and bobbing in a light wind beneath an azure sky. The layered plantations were dotted with farmers in sugegasa as they reaped the crop with sickles.

Kakashi lead the way along a winding dirt road that curved throughout the rice. Gentle cobbled stairs eased the way down the stepped hillside and low dams of dried earth and stone kept the paddies from flooding the paths, although they'd already been drained for harvest.

Erisu followed closely behind the captain but her eyes wandered in fascination to every farmer, crow, or late season insect she saw along the way. The team had been travelling wordlessly for the past several kilometres and it was starting to be too much to bear.

"The rice paddies sure are beautiful," she commented to no one in particular.

"We've just crossed the border with Oto now," Yamato told her from over her shoulder. "The climate has more rain so it's easier to cultivate in this region."

"Rice is the most important grain for human consumption, you know," Erisu said, "and is the most widely produced crop in the Elemental Nation."

Yamato eyed her. "Er...yes, I suppose it is..."

"And did you know that there are more than 40,000 varieties of rice?" She quizzed him. "Rice has also been seen as a symbol of life and fertility, which is why it's traditionally thrown during the wedding ceremonies of many cultures..." She trailed off as she noticed the copious amounts of annoyance coming from the others. "Oh, sorry... I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

"Nah," Sota called from near the back, "only a little bit."

"Are you kidding?" Kiyomi cast a belligerent look at the surrounding fields. "If I have to put up with you rambling on about *rice* for the whole journey I might just kill you in your sleep and spare as all a headache."

Erisu shrank to roughly the same size as a caterpillar. "Right, a bit dry and arbitrary..."

"Oh I meant no offence, darling!" Kiyomi amended quickly. "It's only that we're ninjas not farmers. Why don't you drill us on espionage instead?"

"But I was enjoying her useless prattle on facts that I have no reason to know," Sota complained.

Kakashi chuckled and Erisu looked up at him in surprise. She'd assumed he'd been ignoring them entirely.

"That's enough," he said without turning his face from the path ahead. "We're almost at the outpost village, so look sharp."

"What for?" Yuma drawled. "Orochimaru's dead."

"True," Kakashi was perfectly mellow, "but the country has been under control of Otogakure for a considerable number of years now and likely still harbours resentment towards the Leaf."

Yuma didn't reply and the troupe continued in silence as the village appeared over a low rise in the fields. It was a simple outpost, the houses ramshackle and their roofs thatched. Farmers milled about with wagons and carts full of the season's harvest and merchants had set up shop in the Main Street beneath multicoloured canopies.

Kakashi lead them down a side street and paused just outside a rustic inn, turning to address the team. "Alright, let's split up. Yamato, Yuma: take Yusha and rent us some rooms. Check on our ward, make sure he's healthy and sedated."

"Right away, senpai," Yamato said with a nod.

"Kiyomi-san, Erisu: replenish our supplies and then head back to the inn."

"As you command, Mr. Hero." Kiyomi folded her hands behind her head lazily.

"Sota-san: you're with me. We'll scout the area to get a good look at the village's layout and potential escape routes in case we come under attack. Understood?"

"Why can't I scout the perimeter?" Yuma complained.

"You're a medic. Do your job."

Kakashi shouldered out of his rucksack and handed it over to Yamato; Sota followed suit. Then the he started away with Sota close behind. Erisu nearly called after him to make him stop but caught herself in time. He was Kakashi of the Sharingan, her commanding officer who'd given a direct order, and yet she felt unease at the prospect of the team splitting up.

"Yes, sir," she said instead.

He cast her a thoughtful grey eye, pausing mid-step. "Stay safe, Risu-chan," he replied so softly only she and Sota heard him, "see you later."

"Y-yeah..." She knitted her fingers in front of her and watched as he launched himself into the air and bounded away over the straw roofs.

"You heard him." Yamato called authoritatively. "Scatter!"

They all dashed off immediately and Erisu chased Kiyomi's cape of black hair up an alley to the market. The Main Street was far busier but no sound ninja were spotted amongst the civilians. Kiyomi trailed her dark eyes up and down the road scrupulously before unclipping her forehead protector from her mesh arm guards. Erisu followed her example and unbound her obi style headband, pocketing the incriminating Leaf symbol before the two women joined the fray.

It was surprisingly crowded for such a small village and the stalls were overflowing with fresh vegetables and cured meats. Kiyomi slowed at a fish pedlar's display of smoked bonito and cured saba. She immediately started haggling with the pedlar, even going so far as to insult his sanity in order to lower the price. Erisu, uninterested in the mutilated carcasses of marine life, moved on to purchase some instant ramen and miso paste. They were almost offensively expensive but she had to also buy a couple packs of shitaki dashi for soup stock. They'd be wanting lots of hot broth once they entered the frozen north of the Iron Lands.

Kiyomi finally rejoined her with an alarmingly large sunfish that'd been split and dried to resemble a kite. It was frankly grotesque and highly unappetizing but Erisu kept that opinion to herself.

"I'm pretty sure we're all set," Erisu told her friend as a salesman bagged them some freshly milled rice. "The only thing we're still low on now is water which I'm sure Yamato-senpai and Yuma-senpai will be replenishing at the inn."

"If this village even has running water," Kiyomi remarked in a carrying voice, "honestly, with what I've seen of this village's personal hygiene you'd think they'd never even heard of a bathhouse!"

" _Shush_!" Erisu reprimanded her, "by the stars! Don't be so rude, or at the very least keep your voice low."

"Yeah, yeah." Kiyomi flicked her long, centre-parted bangs and eyed a display of eggs. "Don't want these sheepshaggers and inbreds to feel offended, now do we? They might come after us with torches and pitchforks."

"Kiyomi-san!" Erisu hissed. "Don't be such a...a.."

"A boisterous rich bitch who looks down upon the little people for being less fortunate?" Kiyomi suggested. Erisu stared at her, completely lost. "What? I'm insulting myself this time!"

Erisu continued to stare. "You're quite the heteroclite."

"I'm a _Hetero clit_?" Kiyomi gawked. "what the crap Erisu! Is that even an insult?"

"What? No! I meant heteroklitos!" She started fumbling on her words. "Like-you know-eccentric or atypical..."

"Oh _la-di-da_! If you say so, Madam de Posh-Pants!" Then she started speaking in the stuffiest and most exaggerated accent Erisu had ever heard. "Let us not lambaste these poor degenerates, but rather hold a sophisticated charity ball and wine tasting on the morrow to raise funds for these homely little rapscallions! That way they can all have their own dictionaries and encyclopedias on _archaic words that only dorks like you know_!"

"Oh har de har har," Erisu said dryly, "can we just head back to the inn?"

But Kiyomi continued in her overly classy accent. "I don't know, Madam de Posh-Pants, _can we_? I know we _may_ , but I don't know if we _can_..."

Erisu rolled her eyes and cuffed her around her ears, sweeping a curtain of hair into her face. "Mock me to your heart's content but I'm going."

Kiyomi sniggered and the two women started back the way they'd come. As they went Erisu became more aware that the villagers were in fact rather unwashed and lean, which didn't add up considering the lush climate and amazing harvest. How could a village so prosperous look so impoverished?

"You know..." Erisu scanned a horribly dishevelled rice farmer, taking in his gaunt face and ragged kimono. "I think you were rather spot on in regards to the market's miasma. They do put the H in hircismus."

Kiyomi halted. "Erisu! _Really_? We literally _jus_ t agreed that your big fancy words are fucking annoying!"

"They're not fancy," she objected. "I just speak more formally than most and am drawn to the literary synonyms of more common words..."

"A-nnoy-ing," Kiyomi annunciated. "How the fuck do you expect me to understand what you're saying when you use words like 'hetero-clit', 'me-ass-ma', and 'hur-sis-muz'?"

"Hir-siz-mus," Erisu said clearly, "as in: a pungent scent of the axillae?"

Kiyomi glared at Erisu as if planning to burn her face off.

"Axillae," she repeated in exasperation, "you know, _armpits_? They have body odour!" She immediately regretted saying that as the old man gave her a reproachful look and shuffled away self-consciously. Erisu groaned. "Anyways! Don't you find it suspicious that this village appears impoverished and its residents malnourished when it's surrounded by some of the most fertile farmland and most successful agricultural production in the region?"

Kiyomi blinked, as Erisu had said this all in a matter of a couple milliseconds. "Now that you put it like that it does seem fishy..." She pursed her lips, eyes roving around the market. "And talking about fish, that pedlar was charging an arm and a leg for his catch even though it wasn't even fresh."

"Curiouser and curiouser."

"It's possible the village is being extorted," Kiyomi pointed out.

"My thoughts as well," Erisu agreed, "but let's get back to Yamato-senpai to discuss our discoveries before we jump to conclusions."

"Oh yes." Kiyomi smiled slyly. "You and him can arrange a presentation for Mr. Hero."

"I'm not going to feed into your delusional fantasies," Erisu warned.

Kiyomi's smile widened unpleasantly. "No, but I'm sure you'll be feeding Kakashi later. Sating his appetite, if you know what I mean..."

"Sure," Erisu said sardonically.

"I don't think he's hungry for ramen though." Erisu ignored her but then Kiyomi leaned close and whispered right in her ear, "but I'm sure you could get him salivating with a taste of your fresh little clam."

Erisu jumped and swatted her away. " _Gods, Kiyomi! Have you no proprietary_?!"

"Sadly no," Kiyomi said gleefully, "would you define it for me, Madam de Posh-Pants? Or should I call you Princess Prude?"

"Stop it!" Erisu exclaimed in a failed attempt to keep her voice down. "Please don't make such indecent jokes at Kakashi-sensei's expense...its-well it's-"

"Impertinent?" She suggested as her smile grew even larger and more wicked. "Salicious?"

"Kiyomi..." Erisu sighed irritably. "Must you always be so concupiscent?"

Kiyomi pretended to fan herself as if flustered. "Who me?" She exaggerated a tut of hurt. "How could you suggest that I'm some wanton seductress here to lure you from the path of propriety and abstinence!"

Erisu looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Well are you?"

She dropped the act immediately. "Yes. Yes I definitely am." She wrapped her arm around Erisu's waist in an embarrassingly familiar manner. "But I think you _want_ to be cajoled into becoming a femme fatale." She said with the sort of evil charisma that was unique to her alone. "Erisu, honey, I could teach you tricks that'd leave Kakashi unable to walk for a week."

* * *

~Kakashi~

Stifling a sneeze, Kakashi was momentarily reminded of the drawbacks of always wearing a mask.

"Geisundheit." Sota seemed amused. "Catching a cold, Taichou?"

"Not likely." He pocketed his left hand and surveyed the paddies that surrounded the village on all sides. "It's probably allergies."

"To rice?" The scarred man made a sort of scoffing laugh. "Some shinobi you are."

"See anything suspicious yet?" Kakashi asked to divert the topic.

"Only a rather terrifying humanoid figure," Sota replied casually.

"Where?" His headband was up and Sharingan honed.

"There." He dipped his head in the direction of a dilapidated scarecrow posed a couple yards away. It's bleached cloth face still had the faint traces of the characters henohenomoheji drawn upon it, likely done by a child. It's sugegasa was brittle and askew and its arms were outstretched as if it'd been crucified to the post to which it was bound. Kakashi pulled his headband back over his eye and turned away from the ragged dummy.

Sota grinned broadly. "Remind you of someone?"

A chilling memory of Itachi's Tsukuyomi caused Kakashi pause. It was still vivid. He'd been nailed to a tau style cross and tortured for three consecutive days...forced to undergo horrendous trauma both physical and psychological which left him bedridden for a numbingly long time afterwards...

"It doesn't seem to be scaring any of the birds," Kakashi said quietly, nodding his head towards the murder of black crows raiding the grain laden crops and perching on the stiff arms of the mannikin meant to keep them at bay. Just as he hadn't managed to scare Itachi away for long... "We should continue our patrol."

The two men forded a shallow stream of runoff from the usually water filled paddies, cut across a stretch of rice, the long fronds brushing around their hips, and headed back around towards the settlement. Sota lit a cigarette, letting it dangle from his crooked mouth as the two men travelled through the field in silence.

The sun was setting beyond the thatched roofs ahead, washing the field in red and streaking the clouds with blood. A rather unpleasant smell of decay hung over the field as they continued through the golden see of rice, a smell that reminded Kakashi of both carrion and refuse. A large praying mantis was strangling a butterfly in its long raptorial forelegs. Kakashi swerved to avoid it while Sota paused to take a closer look at the circle of life in action.

Sota let out a puff of smoke. "Mantises have always creeped me out," he remarked, "they look all zen and almost saintly and then _wham_! They eat your head!"

Kakashi kept walking. "Right."

"I've always had a sort of fear at in the back of my head that if Kiyomi and I ever hooked up she'd turn into a sexual cannibal afterwards," he went on, "or maybe she's more like some sort of spider and word just tie me up and drain my life force..."

"Hm." Kakashi glanced back at Sota who was grinning as he puffed his cig.

Then he went still as stone, eyes fixed behind Kakashi. "I...what?" He looked back at the scarecrow they'd passed and Kakashi followed his gaze to see the crows were gone. "...there was only one scarecrow, right?"

Kakashi drew a kunai and slowly turned around. Another mannikin was posed only a yard away, it's arms spread wide and face hidden beneath its sugegasa. He took a deep sniff but the figure was downwind from them. It was completely motionless but Kakashi knew it hadn't been there a moment before.

"That's not a scarecrow," he told his teammate in an undertone, eye still fastened to the humanoid shape ahead.

The ash on Sota's cigarette was growing steadily but he was too focused to flick it. He followed Kakashi's lead and drew a throwing knife. "Should we investigate or go around?"

"We're not going around." Kakashi let his eye drift around the paddy for signs of other figures but saw nothing, save rice. He looked back and the scarecrow had moved. It was only a couple strides away, completely still with its arms still spread wide.

"Kakashi..." Sota began nervously.

"I know."

Then it's head tilted to the side and they got a look at its face. A stretch of cloth had been pulled over its entire head, leaving it void of eyes or mouth. It was just a white, featureless oval that was staring directly at them.

"Kakashi..." Sota whispered again, his voice high with anxiety.

"I _know_ ," he repeated as the scarecrow twitched and rolled its shoulders.

"No," he hissed, "over there..."

That's when Kakashi saw them rising from the rice out of the corner of his eye. Dozens of faceless scarecrows stood up in a semicircle around them. He took a deep, bracing breath and pulled up his headband.

"We can't lead them back to the village," he shot back at Sota, "on my order..."

He heard Sota drawing more knives and did the same. Around them the figures were approaching in a jerky, gangling gait as if they were puppets or wind up toys.

"Now!"

The shinobi darted forward and were instantly swarmed. Kakashi dipped and wove between the creatures in a flurry of taijutsu. Their fingers were long and bladed but never made contact as Kakashi landed a killing blow, kicking off a head with a furious roundhouse. There was a crack of bone but a horrible absence of blood as the thing's head flew across the field like a soccer ball. The body twitched and collapsed just as another lunged at Kakashi with its claws outstretched.

He ducked, plunged a kunai into its abdomen, and ripped its gut open. But instead of organs and fluids, thick white liquid poured from the tear and coated the rice in pasty goo.

"These aren't human!" Sota shouted as he crushed a pair of them beneath a slab of rock. "What the hell are they?! Clones?!"

Kakashi split one in half with a blade and sent a barrage of shuriken into another, filling it with the metal stars till it resembled a dartboard.

"Fall back!" Kakashi ordered as he leapt out of the hoard of scarecrows and onto a hunk of earth that Sota had conjured. The genin landed beside him as Kakashi formed the seals. They pursued, jolting about with a bizarre stiffness yet we're still inhumanely flexible as they turn led over each other in haste to catch the two ninja. The scarecrows started scrambling up the rock like ants with alarming speed but Kakashi was faster.

" _Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu_!" He took a huge breath in as his lungs flooded with heat and let it out in a gust that ignited instantaneously. The scarecrows went up like kindling, letting out a cacophony of earsplitting screeching as they burned. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard, like cats being strangled, like a baby being gutted... The rice around them caught fire and soon the flames were spreading through the dry crops like wildfire.

Thinking fast, Kakashi signed again at top speed. " _Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu_!" The roadside stream rose up and let out a silent roar of mist as it ascended on the fire. The dragon crashed over the field and washed through the paddy like a flash flood. The fire hissed and spat as swaths of black smoke rose around them, concealing the charred scarecrows.

Finally the smoke and steam cleared and the two men looked down at the wreckage below. The humanoid shapes of the mannikin creatures were stiff and blackened in a field of ash and mud.

Kakashi dropped into the ankle deep sludge and trudged through the sooty water to the nearest being.

"Did you kill it?" Sota asked warily from the rock.

"Definitely," Kakashi called back as he snapped its head off and examined the featureless face. "The question is whether it was ever alive."

Sota bounded over to join him. Kakashi cut open the seam of the creature's melted mask and carefully peeled back the seared fabric. Beneath was the face of something... Something dead.

Sota gagged. "Oh god, what is that?"

"Some sort of reanimation jutsu," Kakashi said quietly as he looked into the empty sockets of the decaying face. "Though, whoever this was before isn't in this body now..." The skin was leathery and blackening, the lips pulled back from the teeth and the nose had collapsed. The eyes were liquefied and the sockets only black holes into the skull.

"Oh god..." Sota said again as he turned away to retch in the rice.

Kakashi closed his eyes and exhaled slowly before he pulled the mask back over the corpse's face. He tore the kimono off another body and wrapped the head in it before tucking it under his arm.

"Wh..." Sota looked at him in horror, his face pale from vomiting and his knees shaking. "What are you going to do with that..?"

"I'm going to show it to Yamato and Yuma," Kakashi replied as he picked his way through the carnage.

"Any idea who did this?" Sota asked as he hurried after him.

"I have a hunch." Kakashi lead the way back into the rice that was still untouched.

"And..?" Sota prompted.

"And my hunches are usually correct."

* * *

Yuma opened the door to the hotel room and Kakashi swept past him without greeting, Sota on his heels.

"Hello to you too," Yuma grumbled as he shut the door behind them.

It was a cheap room, with two beds and a couple roll out futons set up on the tatami mats. Tenzō was in the corner adjusting Yusha's sedatives while Erisu and Kiyomi were settled around the table, presumably having dinner.

Kakashi strode over to the dining table that was still set with the evening meal.

"Senpai," Tenzō said in alarm as he took in the ash and white paste covering the men's clothing. "Are you two alright?"

"We...um," Sota started stammering, still shaken.

Kakashi pushed aside the teapot and a large pot of miso.

"Hey!" Kiyomi objected. "What the fuck? We're eating-"

He set the head on the tabletop, unwrapped it and pulled down its melted mask to reveal its sunken cheeks, empty eye sockets and gaping mouth. Erisu's chopsticks clattered to the floor as she and Kiyomi scooted backwards.

"We're _eating_!" Kiyomi said again, now accusingly. "But thanks to you I've completely lost my appetite!"

"What the hell..?" Yuma approached the burned head cautiously. "Did you steal this from a funeral pyre or something? Shit..."

"We were attacked by a horde of animated corpses dressed like scarecrows," he told them all grimly.

"They just shot up out of the rice like weeds!" Sota said, on the verge of hysteria, "there were at least thirty of them and they just..." He trailed off into a shudder.

Tenzō was at Kakashi's side now, examining the corpse head carefully. But it was Erisu that spoke. "This is showing clear signs of advanced decomposition, if not post-decay," she murmured, mostly to herself, "lividity and drying of the skin and cartilage, a noticeable lack of larvae or even adult insects would indicate that the flesh has lost the nutrients to sustain scavengers and most of the tissue has broken down... Hmm." She leaned in surprisingly close to the remains, her nose screwed up against the smell but eyes calm and focused.

"Erisu!" Kiyomi hissed, "get away from that thing!"

Erisu paid her no heed. "The eyes have been completely devoured," she noted, "likely by blowfly maggots..." She picked up several napkins and used them to open the corpse's mouth and peer inside. Sota vanished into the bathroom to retch again.

"Erisu!" Kiyomi exclaimed, "what the fuck-"

"Wait a moment..." Erisu said as she sniffed the corpse's open mouth as if smelling its breath. "Now this is odd."

"Did you just?!" Kiyomi turned away with a groan of disgust. "Unbelievable."

Erisu stepped back, wiping her hands and promptly washing them with a bottle of sanitizer that she produced from seemingly nowhere. "The tongue, uvula, and entire digestive tract, for that matter, have been surgically removed from what I can tell," she said to Kakashi directly. "And the inside has been treated with formaldehyde while the surface of the body hasn't been embalmed at all but rather been left to decay naturally." Her eyes roved over the head with burning curiosity. "How did it move? Did you get a look at its internal organs?"

Yuma was staring at Erisu, horrorstruck. "You sniffed a dead head," he said rather faintly, "actually _sniffed_ it."

"I performed several autopsies while under Tsunade-sama's supervision at the hospital," she said, unconcerned. "There's no need to fear the dead." She looked down at the head again and smiled slightly. "Well, not usually. When they're up and walking however..." She cleared her throat and turned back to Kakashi. "Their organs?" She repeated hopefully.

"They had none," he replied, "their innards were substituted for this white paste." He took off his glove and and dropped it on the table beside the head for her to examine. He was both surprised and impressed by her morbid curiosity. She didn't scare easily, that was for sure. At least, not from dead things, being greeted when she was reading on the other hand...

"Fascinating!" She was stooped over his glove and squinting at the ooze. "If this is what I think it is... Yuma-senpai, would you use your Byakugan on this please?"

He grumbled but obliged and soon his look of disgust changed to interest. "It's chakra!"

"What?" Tenzō stared at the milky residue.

"It's a chakra infused liquid!" Yuma examined the cranium of the corpse. "Yes, it's taken the place of the nervous and vascular systems. That must be what made it able to move."

"But whose chakra is it?" Kakashi asked.

"I..." Yuma's veins pulsed. "I don't know, it's.. It's corrupted though. If I had to guess I'd say it belonged to-"

"Orochimaru." Kakashi finished for him. His hunches were almost always spot on.

Tēnzo's expression darkened. "You don't think..?"

"Yeah," Kakashi confirmed, "these must be escaped experiments."

"But Orochimaru's dead!" Kiyomi said heatedly. "He's not performing anymore experiments!"

"Sasuke freed many of the test subjects," Tenzō reminded her, "he went around liberating prisons and laboratories when he was recruiting his team. And upon Orochimaru's death many of his supporters and workers deserted his hideouts as well. It's very likely these corpses were set loose, possibly by accident, during the chaos."

"But hasn't anyone tracked them down?" Yuma demanded, "I mean, how could Konoha just stand by while all these freaks were running lose?"

Tenzō stiffened slightly so Kakashi answered for him, "it's unlikely we'll ever be able to locate and capture all of the test subjects. We have neither the resources or the intel for something like that. Unless one of Orochimaru's confidants is taken into custody it's possible that we'll never even learn where all his hideouts were, let alone where all his prisoners fled to."

Silence settled in the room as everyone considered the facts. Then Kiyomi spoke, her voice shaking slightly, "so you're telling me that there could be hundreds of failed experiments and human guinea pigs all over the place..?"

"And this close to Otogakure..." Yuma trailed off.

"Are you sure you killed them all, O-sama?" Erisu asked apprehensively, "I mean... None of them followed you back to the village did they? The civilians are in no condition to defend themselves against leagues of the living dead..."

"Yeah," Kiyomi agreed, "they're all starved and suffering from some serious hircismus!"

"What?"

"Kiyomi-san and I have reason to believe the civilians are being extorted," Erisu explained, "despite their success with agriculture they're malnourished and impoverished. Do you think the corpses might be connected?"

"We don't have time to liberate some grungy farmers!" Yuma snapped irritably, "we're already on a mission, remember? We're trying to _save your life_!"

"But these people..." Kiyomi began.

"No, Yuma's right," Kakashi said heavily.

"He is?"

"I am?"

"We are already in a race against the clock with a lot of ground yet to cover," Kakashi reminded them all, "besides, we don't have jurisdiction in this village as it's technically under the rule of the Oto's Daiymo."

"I thought Orochimaru overthrew the Daiymo," Sota said as he reemerged from the bathroom, "I thought the country was leaderless right now."

"The point is we can't legally interfere with this country's situation without permission from both the residents and our Hokage."

"But Kakashi," Erisu pressed, almost pleadingly, "there's _children_ here! If those corpses did follow you back..."

 _Tap tap tap_

Everyone froze.

"Was that the door?" Sota whispered.

"I don't think so..." Kakashi looked around when they heard it again: the distinct sound of a human knuckle rapping on wood.

 _Tap tap tap_

It was coming from _inside_ the room.


	49. Chapter 47: Incinerating Fear

**CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN**

 _ **Incinerating Fear**_

~Erisu

 _Tap...tap...tap_

"Zombies don't knock," Sota whispered as everyone tried to track the source of the sound. "Do they?"

"Well technically the word zombie doesn't refer to an animated corpse exclusively," Erisu whispered back, "historically, the term was assigned to-"

"Risu," Kakashi interrupted warningly, "now's not the time."

 _Tap, tap, tap_!

Yamato stiffened beside them as his dark eyes motioned towards the corner of the room. "It's coming from in there," he hissed.

Everyone followed his gaze as the rapping came again, louder now and more insistent, but this time it was followed by a voice.

"I'm as into kinky shit as the next guy but I think I should let you know that I'm claustrophobic," came the distinctive crow of Yusha from inside the wooden gourd. "What's the safe word? 'Lemons'? 'Gentle Fist'? No, that's not it..."

"Oh gods, no," Erisu groaned.

"Aha!" Yusha whooped. "It's 'Sexy Sarutobi', isn't it?!"

"Wasn't he sedated?" Kiyomi demanded in a low voice.

"I checked his dosage just before Senpai got back," Yamato replied with a creased brow, "there's no way he can be lucid right now..."

"Hell _oooooo_!" Yusha called at the top of his lungs. "I can hear you guys whispering out there y'know!"

"Are you certain you didn't turn off his drip by accident?" Kiyomi pressed.

"Of course I'm certain!" Yamato snapped, "I've kept him under control this far haven't I?"

"Imōt _oooooo_!" Yusha hollered, banging on the wood and making the whole canister rock. "I know you can hear me!" Erisu lowered her eyes, hiding her face behind a veil of silvery blonde hair as she retreated slowly backwards. She wasn't ready to face him yet. She thought she'd have more time to prepare. Maybe if she kept quiet he'd forget about her...

"Well you obviously fucked up somewhere!" Kiyomi snarled, voice rising.

"Excuse me?" Yamato looked down at her reproachfully.

The weight of the angry cacophony was pressing down on Erisu as if she were trapped on the ocean floor. She couldn't breathe.

"Lemme out! Lemme out! Lemme out!" Yusha clamoured on.

"Could someone shut him up?" Yuma raged, covering his ears.

"Erisu should've been in charge of the prisoner!" Kiyomi shouted over both Yusha and Yuma's agitated voices. "She's the actual medic here! And you obviously don't know what you're doing!"

" _Excuse me_?" Yamato repeated, fuming now.

"What about me?" Yuma demanded, "I'm a medic too, bitch!"

"You don't count!" She snapped.

"Everyone be quiet!" Kakashi ordered and they all fell silent, even Yusha. The senior shinobi ran his fingers through the back of his hair and down over his face as if washing away his stress before speaking again. "Yamato, Kiyomi, Sota: stand ready. Erisu: behind me. Yuma: open the box."

Three shinobi drew their weapons and flanked the canister as Yuma released the seals. Kakashi caught Erisu's hand as she tried to flee and squeezed it comfortingly. He cast her a brief look of consolation, advising her to stand her ground with a silent graphite eye. Then he turned back to the others and dipped his head in signal.

The Hyūga unlatched the lid and Yusha sprang out like a Jack-in-a-box. His usually well groomed ponytail and facial hair were now matted and overgrown, his face gaunt from being on intravenous sustenance for so long and his eye was encircled by the yellow-green hue and purplish speckles of of a mostly healed bruise.

Despite being surrounded by glinting weapons and staunch expressions, Yusha showed no signs of unease. He stretched exaggeratedly and opened his mouth wide in an astonishingly loud yawn.

" _Dayuuuum_!" He exclaimed through his yawn. "I am cramped right up! How long was I like that? Adults aren't meant to be curled up in the fetal position in some wooden womb like that. Seriously! You guys are inhumane! I should sue Konoha for violating my basic human rights and denying me of my liberty to health and safety!"

Sota glanced uncertainly at Erisu for translation. "His what now?"

Yusha leaned against the lip of the gourd and gave Sota a patronizing stare. "'No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.'" He quoted cogently.

"Oh, poor wittle pwincess," Kiyomi tutted, "did the mean ninjas hurt your feewings?"

"Oh ho ho!" He chortled. "A comedian!" He turned his large, green eyes on Kiyomi and his mouth fell open slightly. He scanned her from head to toe, his gaze shamelessly lingering on the full bust beneath her skintight undershirt.

Kiyomi gave him a smile thin with contempt. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

Yusha cleared his throat. "No, it's my eyes that are all messed up," he replied weakly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He smirked. "I can't take them off of you."

Kiyomi rolled her eyes. "How original."

"But now that I think about it..." Yusha continued. "I wouldn't mind getting my tongue caught by your pussy-cat."

"Woah!" Sota started forward. "That's enough of that!"

Yusha gave a false yelp of fright at the sight of the genin's marred face. "Oh shit! What happened to you?! I mean fuuuck!" He leaned towards the other man to get a closer look at his scars. "That's the kind of face only a mother could love."

"Hey!" Yuma grabbed Yusha's long blond ponytail and jerked his head back. "Lay off him you piece of shit! You have _no idea_ what he-" he cut himself off and dropped the telepath's hair. Then he backed up and dusted his flack jacket self consciously, eyes darting to Sota then to the floor. "

Yusha raised his hands innocently. "I meant no offence!" He inclined his head to Sota. "Sorry man, my condolences. Really."

Yuma cleared his throat loudly over Sota's attempted reply. "There are more pressing matters requiring our attention right now," the black haired man said emphatically, "like weighing the precedence of rescuing hostage children from a homicidal cult over the annihilation of undead scarecrows for the protection of a bunch of starving villagers..."

"Yes," Yamato agreed, "well summarized, Yuma-san. We also need to figure out how you're even awake, Yusha."

"'Yusha and Yuma'?" Erisu's brother pursed his lips. "That's gonna get confusing, isn't it?"

"Is your IV still in place?" Yamato asked, taking a cautious step towards him but Yusha pretended not to hear.

"Killing scarecrows and saving kiddies sounds fun and all but I have my own priorities," Yusha said as he climbed out of the wooden container and clapping his hands together like a host about to announce the start of a play. "Like giving my sweet little sister a piece of my mind for using that little jutsu on me."

Erisu felt her innards freeze over and was suddenly incapable of speech or movement.

He looked her dead in the eye and swapped his fake smile for a look of cold expectation. "Well?" He prompted, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Y-you left me no choice, Oniisan," Erisu stammered, trying desperately to sound confident and failing pathetically. "We needed Mother's location and you were refusing to speak."

"I have the right to remain silent!" Yusha retorted indignantly. "Anything I say can and will-"

"You didn't take the Fifth though, did you?" Kakashi said over him, "you were talking plenty, just refusing to comply with our investigation and impeding our process by trying to feed us false information."

"I never saw a warrant for my arrest!" Yusha argued, "I was apprehended without being read my rights and held in deplorable conditions against my will!"

"You are technically still a Konoha Shinobi," Sota pointed out reasonably, "you swore your allegiance to the Leaf and Hokage. Did you really think you'd be treated like a civilian in a case where the village's security was at risk from a member of their own military?"

"And who the hell are you, gum-face?" Yusha sneered. "This is a conversation between me and my sister. It's a family matter!"

"We don't have time for you to have a heart to heart right now!" Yuma said as he stepped between the two genin. "There is a real, physical threat out there that we need to face!"

"Oh and what's that?" Yusha asked, batting his eyes in mock concern. "Scared of a couple of shrine maidens and alter boys?"

There was a flash of metal as Yuma flung a kunai across the room. It landed right between the corpse's empty eye sockets with a squish and a thunk as the blade punctured bone. A putrid trickle of the white substance, disturbingly akin to puss in consistency, oozed from its forehead down the bridge of its shrunken nose. Yusha merely gaped at the decaying face on the dining table in befuddled horror.

"Wha...?" He cleared his throat and swallowed audibly. "What _is_ that?"

"I might've mentioned something about undead scarecrows earlier," Yuma replied, "although I think you were too busy throwing a temper tantrum like a two year old to hear me."

Yusha opened his mouth to make a retort when Kakashi intervened. "Alright, that's enough," he said with authority, "from all of you."

"But-" Yusha started.

" _Seriously_."

Yusha flung his hands up in defeat. "Fine! You're the boss, Master of the Hounds." He paced back over to the gourd and sat on the rim. "Now could someone please explain why I have a tube in my dickhole? Cause it's _really_ uncomfortable."

"It's a catheter," Erisu told him, secretly satisfy by his discomfort, though admittedly irked by his crass language. "So you wouldn't urinate all over yourself during the trip."

Yusha narrowed his eyes maliciously. "Genius."

"You'll also notice a bag of piss strapped to your calf," Kiyomi pitched in, "maybe take that off before hitting on a girl? Just saying."

While Yusha stammered his embarrassment and complained unintelligibly Erisu slunk over to the window and peered through the shabby blinds into the street below, desperate for something else to look at. Her heart was racing with adrenaline and her head pounding with stress but she did her very best to emulate the composed posture of her sensei.

 _Fake it 'till you make it_.

The village was deserted and every visible window had been shuttered or curtained. Not a single farmer, straggler of drunkard was to be seen. Even the cattle and collies that'd been running amok in the market seemed to have vanished. The houses were dark, with no light besides the rising moon to light the streets.

"Kakashi," she called softly over her shoulder, "it's a ghost town out there."

He silently approached from behind her and, standing so close his ribs brushed her shoulder blades, leaned over her to see out the gap in the blinds. Erisu could smell smoke still clinging to his clothes but tried to ignore his close proximity as they scanned the deserted roads below.

"Perhaps the civilians turn in early?" Kakashi suggested in her ear.

"The sun only set about a half hour ago," Erisu reminded him, "even a very active farmer wouldn't be turning in at 7 pm."

"Really?" Kakashi looked down at her curiously. "They might've been exceptionally tired from the harvest."

"Well," Erisu began with her eyes still patrolling the empty road, "statistically the rural labour-force requires a minimum of 7.5 hours of sleep per night in order to get the five complete sleep cycles needed for optimal energy upon waking. Considering it's harvest time the average farmer would wake between four and six am, you need only count backwards the amount of sleep they need and would therefore conclude that most of them would be turning in for the night between nine and eleven pm. Give them an extra hour of sleep, even though it's a fact that the labour force sleeps less on average, especially men and those with children or a commute to work, and you'll still have the majority of these individuals turning out their lights at no earlier than eight o'clock pm. And that's just the calculations for the farmers. Housewives, merchants, and the unemployed would be staying up even later on average."

"Huh." Kakashi's eye creased into an amused smile.

"So by simply applying the data collected in the most recent sleep survey and cross examining that with everything one knows about the epidemiology of sleep one can quickly deduce that the village's silence minutes after sunset is irregular and is actually pointing to a reason other than the civilians turning in for bed early. Likely a more sinister reason, such as the presence of reanimated corpses in the rice paddies."

Erisu suddenly realized that everyone in the room was staring at her in silence and her face reddened instantly.

"Let me get this straight," Kiyomi said with her brows raised high into her forehead. "You looked out the window, saw it was dark and quiet, and instead of just saying 'huh, that's suspicious', you designed a mathematical formula to determine what time they wake up in the morning?" Her dark lips stretched wide in a grin and she planted her hands on her full hips. "So, tell me, in all your extensive knowledge of irrelevant crap, have you ever heard of the expression 'saying something in a roundabout way'?"

Erisu scowled. "I wasn't being deliberately circumlocutory," she replied a little huffily.

"You used the word 'deduce'."

"I did initially point out that it was peculiar, but due to Kakashi-sensei's inquiry I chose to elaborate and explain how I came to my conclusion."

Kiyomi covered her face in her hand. "Oh Erisu, Erisu, _Erisu_..." She sighed. She looked up and raised her hands to emphasize her point. " . .You."

"No he..." She looked up at Kakashi uncertainly to see his dark eye gleaming with silent laughter. "Oh." She blinked slowly as her headache increased tenfold. "Marvellous."

"Geez!" Kiyomi shook her head in disbelief. "You know all about sleep patterns, rice cultivation, and the fancy term for smelly armpits but you can't even tell when you're being trolled? I mean, what's the point of knowing all that crap about 'sleep cycles' and labour-force commutes' anyways? Empty your head of all that useless info and fill it with stuff that actually matters."

"Sleep science _does_ matter," Erisu insisted, "not only do I specialize in inducing telepathically simulated REM sleep waves but I'm also a medic. And as a medical practitioner I need to understand how sleep affects my patients. The disruption of natural biological rhythms is related to a variety of physical and mental problems, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, asthma, diabetes and even depression."

"You're a god damned nerd. I swear." Kiyomi said and, clearly unconvinced, slid her eyes over to Yuma. "Do you know this shit?"

His baffled expression forcibly cleared for a look of magisterial condescension. " _Obviously_ ," he drawled imperiously, "I was a medic for the _Anbu_ after all."

"Really?!" Kiyomi punched Sota in the shoulder. "Did you have any idea, luv? Cause I _never_ could've guessed Yuma was a former Anbu!"

"It's a shock," Sota agreed gravely, "honestly, I can't believe you never mentioned it!"

"Oh shut up," he snapped. "No one asked your opinion."

"Actually Kiyomi literally just did," Sota shot back, "or is your head so far up your ass that you've gone completely deaf?"

"Mm." Kiyomi closed her eyes to savour Sota's words. "That was beautiful."

"Do any of you have a shred of professionalism?" Yamato asked icily. "You are fully qualified shinobi on an S Ranked Mission and you're bantering like common thugs."

"Yeah," Yusha chipped in, "the Dog's right. You're all stupid."

Kiyomi's smile vanished. "What?"

"You're harassing Erisu for speaking in that gabby mess of technical crap but if you actually payed attention to my sis instead of bickering and trying to one up each other all the time you'd realize she's just a nervous talker." He shrugged and nodded to Erisu. "Isn't that right, Imōto? You're a jumpy mute but when you're actually anxious you turn into a chatter box of random nonsense."

Erisu turned her gaze back to the rotten specimen on the table. It was preferable to her brother's smug expression.

He let out a short laugh. "See? Now she's pouting cause she knows I'm right. But if I were to be more specific I'd speak in 'Erisuish' and say she gets 'compulsively loquacious when experiencing severe social anxiety'." The gourd creaked as he leaned back but Erisu kept her eyes on the necrotic flesh. "I was present for her birth y'know. I know everything about this little geek."

"And she knows everything about you too," Yuma said coldly, "that's how we broke you, remember?"

"I think Kakashi was the one doing the breaking," he said lazily, "like my nose for example. You mostly just stood there sweating and making eyes at my sister."

Yuma started to object but Erisu's patience was suddenly gone.

"SHUT UP!" She rounded on them both, eyes pink and bleeding. "This is ridiculous! Our superiors have repeatedly asked you to stop with this childish prattling and focus on the mission! So can we skip the drama and get on with this already?! If I have to put up with this ceaseless banter and petty insults for the rest of the mission I'll just fuck it all and put myself out of my misery right now!"

The room was more motionless than a morgue as everyone simply stared at her as if she had spontaneously combusted.

"Did I stutter?!" She demanded. "I want to know the plan already!"

Yusha broke the silence as he stood and applauded her. "Damn straight!" He cheered. "Look at you, Imōto! Kicking ass and taking names!"

Erisu's anger ended as quickly as it'd begun and she was suddenly exhausted. "Let's just..." Yusha was still clapping as he underwent mitosis and split into doubles. "...let's..." And Erisu dropped and everything went black.

* * *

~Kakashi

The night was chill as a blade of ice. Kakashi was perched on the wooden ridge beam of the inn's roof as he watched his hounds bounding into the dark to scout the area.

He kept watching it replay on a loop in his mind: Erisu shouting her brother down, her spine straight as a board and her eyes like pink fire. She'd seemed to grow a couple feet in her fury before her eyes had gone flat, her expression that'd been complete rage one moment suddenly completely void of emotion. And the way she'd dropped, so fast and unexpectedly he'd nearly failed to catch her...

 _The Curse_ , he thought darkly, _it always comes back to the wretched Curse that her mother cast_.

They needed to leave at first light, if not sooner, and hurry on northward. He'd carry Erisu if he had to, but one thing was certain and that was that they had no time to spare. No time for arguments, and no time to get caught up in the lives of the locals. Yes, just another reminder that he had _no more time_.

The rough, untreated wood beneath his sandals was damp with dew as it buckled. Kakashi sidestepped carelessly as the wood bent and bulged, his gaze still sweeping the landscape of thatched roofs around him and his mind miles away. Tenzō formed gradually from the dead wood, his face momentarily still grained and knotted as if he was a wooden marionette.

"Senpai," he greeted Kakashi as his skin and clothes returned to their proper consistency. "Yusha is still not responding to treatment. I think the shikigami has made him resistant to the sedatives. But he is bound and contained."

"And?"

"The others have turned in for the night as you ordered."

"And?"

"Erisu is still unconscious. But her vitals are normal, normal for her anyways. I don't think it's anything more than a particularly deep sleep. She just needs to recharge."

Kakashi let out his breath in a gush of vapour. "With her blood pressure levels it's an accomplishment for her to remain upright at all," he commented, "but if she faints so easily from merely raising her voice we might be in fur complications when we meet the Body in battle."

"I don't think I've ever seen her that angry before," Tenzō said thoughtfully.

"She got a bit intense in the Hokage's office," Kakashi recalled, "but you're right, that outburst did seem out of character."

"We need to keep Yusha under control. She became neurotic and erratic as soon as he spoke to her. Their interactions could put the mission in jeopardy."

"Mm." Kakashi turned his eye back to the rice paddies.

"She needs to control her emotions," Tenzō stated, "there's no room for the kind of displays of immaturity that were going on back there."

Kakashi didn't reply. He knew Tenzō was technically right but considering what Erisu and Yusha had been through... There was bound to be hard feelings, no matter how stoic Erisu might try to be. It was actually more of a surprise that she'd kept her cool for so long.

"If we weren't pressed for time I'd suggest sticking them in a cage and letting them hash it all out," Tenzō went on, "they need to get past this so that we can complete our mission without interruptions."

"Be that as it may," Kakashi said slowly, "this situation might be more delicate than that. I'm *still* not clear on all the specifics of their relationship, even though was the one gathering most of the evidence on their case. I think there's more going on here than meets the eye. Perhaps there are other factors in play?"

Tenzō considered him closely. "What are you getting at?"

Kakashi hesitated, considering his words. "Perhaps..." He paused and weighed Tenzō with a look. "Yusha might be more useful as an ally than a prisoner?"

" _Yusha_." Tenzō echoed blankly. "The kami possessed, drug addled, profanity spouting, misogynistic, religious fanatic, wild card, Yusha?"

"He's a Yamanaka telepath, a fully qualified shinobi, and the only one here who has a full understanding of our target."

"He was caught bathing in a public fountain."

"Look." Kakashi was running out of patience. "I don't like the kid either, but he could prove an important resource."

"Senpai..."

"If we could convince him to assist us-" a foul sent reached him and Kakashi cut himself off. He faced the plantation and felt his shoulders sag. He stifled a sigh of resignation. "Well. It looks like the debate of whether to push on or stand and fight has been made for us."

Legions of scarecrows were meandering across the vast fields of rice, heading straight for the village. Pakkun bounded up to Kakashi, his nostrils flared and his fur bristling.

"Boss," he barked, "we've got company!"

"What are your orders, Senpai?"

"Wake the others. We'll engage them with battle formation D," Kakashi decided, "put Yuma on guard duty."

"Yes sir." Tenzō melted back into the wood from whence he came.

"Pakkun, I want you and the hounds to lure the enemy towards that paddy."

"Yes sir."

"Do not engage them unless absolutely necessary."

"Understood." Pakkun paused on the overhang of the roof. "What about the girl?"

"Leave Erisu where she is. Just make sure that the enemy is contained within that field."

Pakkun's wrinkled brow creased worriedly.

"Make Buscuit and Bull watch her," he added.

The pug's unease lightened a bit as he gave a nod of understanding and leapt away, vanishing into the dark. Kakashi took a few minutes to bury his own emotions before he strode across the patchwork of old straw and stepped over the ledge. He caught the eavestrough with a gloved hand and swung through the open window.

"I've briefed them," Tenzō reported as Kakashi assessed his assembled force.

Yusha was shackled with Yuma's scornful eyes monitoring his every move while Sota and Kiyomi were conversing in hushed voices near the door as they prepped their gear. On the bed farthest from the entrance lay Erisu in a deathlike sleep.

"Alright, we'll be moving in pairs in accordance with nature release," Kakashi told the room at large. "Sota and Kiyomi on the west flank. Yamato you're with me on the east flank. Yusha and Yuma will hold back and defend the village from stragglers. Everyone clear?"

"Woah, time out!" Yusha made a T with his bound hands. "I'm part of the battle formation?"

"Your sister is indisposed at the moment so you'll be filling in for her," Kakashi said curtly, "problem?"

Yusha opened his mouth then caught sight of Erisu's motionless form and closed it again. He shrugged and tossed his head. This crisis might work in their advantage if it garnered them a new comrade.

"Yuma," Kakashi addressed the Hyūga, "unbind him."

"What?!" He started forward. "How am I supposed to defend the civilians _and_ keep this-this *criminal*-"

"I prefer 'reprobate'."

"-under control if he isn't even cuffed?!"

"You used to be Anbu, right?" Kakashi replied cooly, "I'm sure it's within your skill level to guard an injured genin."

Yuma stammered incoherently.

"Everyone ready?" Kakashi looked around at the shinobi gathered before him, armed to the teeth. "Good. Scatter!"

* * *

The horde of dead swept through the moonlit rice fields like a wave. The ninken lured them into an empty field, already shorn of crops and cleared of sheafs. Kakashi whistled and the dogs swerved outwards in all directions to surround the swarm Ion all sides, pressing them back upon themselves like a living corral.

"Sota! Yamato!" Kakashi called. He and the two shinobi clamped their hands together in earth style seals on three sides of the empty field. If they did this right, it'd be over and done with...

"On your order, Senpai!" Yamato called.

Kakashi whistled and the hounds fell back in perfect synchronization. As soon as they were clear Kakashi yelled the signal over the snarling of hounds and moaning of the dead. The earth cracked and shook as walls of rock broke through the topsoil and surrounded the horde like a bowl. Eight feet...ten...twelve feet tall, the walls rose with the the evokers posed on the brink. Kakashi joined Yamato on the east side in one neat bound and caught sight of Kiyomi's jet black hair rippling next to Sota in the west. The scarecrows were clawing at the rock, writhing and tossing as they ceaselessly tried to pursue their prey. They were lower than insects in their mindless urge that mitigated even their own safety. Rock showered down on the faceless creatures, slicing the fabric that concealed their rotting flesh and drawing their pungent liquid innards from the abrasions. The ninken had fallen back beyond the wall and were pacing around it in search of stragglers. Pakkun bounded over to Kakashi, his fur full of burs and rice sheaf. He shook his soft ears and looked up at the copy ninja with pouchy eyes.

"No sign that any were missed," he informed him.

Kakashi nodded approvingly and looked back down at the mass of bodies.. "On my signal!" He shouted over the scrabbling and gurgling below. He signed the jutsu and saw Kiyomi doing the same on the other side of the pen. "Fire Style!" They said in unison. "Fire Ball Jutsu!"

The flames poured into the bowl from both sides and the horrible shrieking of the things filled the night. Their sugegasa's were aflame and their masks melting to reveal the grotesque features beneath. The sight was horrendous, the sound chilling, but it was the smell was most difficult to bear. A dozen times worse than the last encounter because there were so many more corpses this time and even more pronounced to Kakashi's heightened senses, the scent had all of them choking and gagging almost instantaneously. The reek of charring, bloated, stinking flesh... The acrid, toxic odour of chemically treated fabric as it melted like plastic... and still distinctive above it all was that potent chakra fluid that filled their rotted bodies like putty... And it all mingled with the smoke and flame to burn the sense of smell away entirely.

A jubilant cry sounded over the screaming and the roar of fire. Kakashi looked back to see Yusha leaping around, tossing his long hair like rockstar.

"Yeah! Burn bitches!" He shouted at the incinerating bodies. "Think you're badass? You're nothing to ninjas! Fucking ninjutsu for the win! _Buuuuuuuuuurn_!"

Past the insane display provided by Yusha free of charge stood Erisu in the flicking light of the flames. How she got there Kakashi couldn't guess, by the look of her it didn't make sense that she could stand, let alone walk. Her hair looked ginger in the light and her eyes were mirrors for the dancing fire. Her face was stark white and her expression unreadable as she stared straight through Kakashi and into the massive coiling black snakes and red tongues of smoke and flame that rose high over the walls of earth.

She didn't even seem to be breathing so he honed his Sharingan on her. His pinwheel eye focused, he read the word being repeated on her silent lips: burn.

Yusha was going wild with excitement at the violent light show while his sister was as still as a statue. Polar opposites as ever, but they said the same thing, one screaming and the other soundless.

 _Burn._

 _Burn._

 **Burn**.

* * *

"Risu."

She was still rooted to the spot, gazing unseeingly at the hissing and spitting flames as Yuma and Yamato filled the stone bowl with water. She was completely unresponsive as Kakashi approached her and shook her shoulders.

"Risu," he repeated but it was as if she were asleep with her eyes open, "can you hear me?"

"Burn," Erisu whispered, "just burn."

" _Erisu_!" She jerked at his shout and her eyes stretched wide in alarm.

"S-so sorry, sensei," she stammered, "I was l...lost in thought." She quickly sidestepped around him and hurried towards Sota and Kiyomi, muttering more apologies as she went.

Kakashi stared after her in a sort of befuddled dismay, trying to understand what he'd just witnessed.

"She doesn't like fire," Yusha said from behind him, "it makes her get all spacey and weird."

Kakashi regarded him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"She's been like that ever since our house burnt down a few years ago," Yusha explained, his hands folded behind his head. "She'd wake up from night terrors saying 'burn' and 'fire' or 'it's not real, it burned.'" Kakashi stared at him in confusion but Yusha merely shrugged. "Don't ask me! I always assumed she was just still freaked out about the fire, but that was ages ago. I don't get why she's still tripping."

"What's not real?" Kakashi asked.

"What?"

"You just said that she'd say 'it's not real'. What did she mean?"

"I don't know." His brows knitted together warily. "Erisu's always suffered from nightmares, it's a big reason why she has chronic insomnia. She's always having nightmares about 'shadow men' and fire, dreams about red moons that would leave her in an anxious state all day. She even got all psyched out by a dream about 'eyes made of ice'. I never really got much out of her about those ones."

Kakashi blinked.

"What?" Yusha raised his hands defensively. "Erisu's weird! Always has been! Weird girls have weird dreams. Case closed."

"She'd share these dreams?" He asked dubiously, "with you?"

" _Tch_." Yusha rolled his eyes. "I'm her big brother. We weren't always so antagonistic y'know. There was a time when Erisu trusted me with anything and everything."

Kakashi wasn't convinced. "But you're sure she started saying burn _after_ the fire?" He specified, "not before?"

"Yes. At-at least I think so." He grunted irritably. "It was a long time ago but yes, the first time I remember her having the 'burn dreams' was after our house in Konoha burnt down."

"How did the fire start?"

"A crappy candle," Yusha said, narrowing his eyes. "The wick was off centre so it melted down the side and caught the bathroom screens on fire. Erisu didn't set it, if that what you're getting at."

"Of course she didn't, she's too considerate for arson. But how long did her nightmares about the fire reoccur after you left the village?"

"Hey, chill out. It doesn't mean anything." Yusha was backing up and looking harassed. "It was just her way of processing what happened!"

Kakashi looked over at Erisu, who was helping the others move the water back to the runoff streams with the dragon jutsu he'd taught her. As he watched her he felt unease rising from the pit of his stomach on feathered wings. Her hair seemed to have gotten even more white since sunset and that vacant, glassy eyed expression just didn't bode well.

"I'm going to take her inside," Kakashi said briskly, "you report back to Yuma."

"Report what?"

"Just...go to him, Yusha." Kakashi swept over to Erisu, took her hand without a word, and started leading her back towards the inn.

"H-hey!" She protested, "I need to help with the cleanup!"

"You need to go inside."

"What? No!" She was dragging her feet furiously in the upturned earth. "We need to dispose of the decaying remains or the risk of infectious disease will become a serious hazard for the residents-"

"They can handle it."

" _Kakashi_!" She stopped abruptly and yanked her hand from his. Kakashi stifled a sigh and managed to meet her accusatory stare.

"You're in no condition to be using ninjutsu," Kakashi told her bluntly, "let's go."

"I'm _fine_." She set her jaw stubbornly. "I can aid the team in burying up the dead."

"Yamato can do that himself with his earth techniques," Kakashi pointed out, "you'll just get in his way."

"Oh." Her eyes dropped to the ground with more weight than an anvil and Kakashi immediately regretted his choice of words.

"Risu-chan," he began again, "I want to change the dressings on your leg and check your vitals. You passed out earlier and you still look pretty faint."

"Yes, sir."

Kakashi struggled internally for a moment to resist his urge to shake her. _Must she always be so unreadable_? "Cmon." He slid his fingers between hers and tugged her towards him more gently. "There are some things we need to address."

She peered up at him, almost cautiously as if she thought he might lash out at any moment, then wordlessly consented to following him. They headed back through the dark and smoky streets in silence, hand in hand but not connected. It was as though Erisu wasn't really there, only some sort of genjutsu that was fading quickly.

Kakashi tried to convince himself that he had lead his team to victory. They'd dealt with the scarecrows so swiftly because of his strategy after all, but still something felt very off to him. They'd been defeated _too_ easily and now with Erisu's bizarre demeanour and rapidly accelerating illness... Whatever this evasive behaviour of hers meant, it couldn't be good.

* * *

o~O~o

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _Apologies for how late this chapter is! I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry._

 _Unfortunately, my psychotic and paranoid ex is back in town to harass me...lurking outside my window, messaging me to tell me he can hear me singing the Pokémon theme song, and trying to initiate unwanted physical contact._

 _Needless to say I've been distracted as of late and am so stressed that I literally threw up._

 _(And I really do mean literally, not the way grammatically challenged folk use literally when they actually mean figuratively)_

 _By the Old Gods and the New, I swear my skull feels like someone cracked it open with Lucile._

 _Mixing fandoms, I know, but Geekish is my first language. I also speak English, Toddler, Meme-ish, and an advanced dialect of Pop Culture References._

 _(Say that aloud in a posh accent. It's worth it, trust me.)_

 _I digress. I'm sorry again for the long wait and am genuinely trying to have a chapter published weekly. (But of course I won't substitute quality for punctuality)_

 _I hope you enjoy this latest instalment of Eye Contact and please review it if you get the chance! I know it's pretty dialogue heavy, if you think there was too much talking just let me know. (these characters are kind of chaotic if you stick them all in a room together! yeesh)_

 _~All my love, Elle_

 _(Ps: Beta Reader? Anyone? No?)_


	50. Chapter 48: No Rest For The Wicked

**CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT**

 _ **No Rest For The Wicked**_

~Kakashi

The village was draped in smoke and was tainted by the lingering scent of death as Kakashi and Erisu made their way back through the empty streets. With the screams of the scarecrows silenced and the blaze of their corpses extinguished, the village was starting to stir. An occasional light flickered through the wushi paper and here and there a shadow-cast face peeked through the curtains. The silence of the night was permeated with words of praise from the dark. They were being hailed as heroes.

Perhaps the platoon _had_ saved these people from the leagues of undead, perhaps there were more in the terraced fields and autumn woods, either way the shinobi could linger no longer; when the sun rose so would they.

"Even still his evil remains," Erisu murmured unexpectedly.

"What?"

"Orochimaru-sama is dead and gone, but his influence still brings suffering to these people. How many were killed or altered because of his experiments?"

Her expression was hard to make out in the gloom but Kakashi could hear the emotion in her voice, her sorrow over the losses and compassion for the people.

"He was like a virus," Kakashi said, "Sasuke might've killed him but some symptoms still remain."

"How many of the citizens do you think supported him?" She asked as she lifted her eyes to him. "How many left these rice fields to take part in the Konoha Crush?"

Kakashi didn't answer. It was hard to think of the Sound ninjas he'd killed at the tournament as farmers and fathers.

"How many of them did he threaten and deceive to make them willing to die for his cause?" She lowered her eyes again and Kakashi realized she was thinking about Miwa. "People aren't evil. They commit horrible acts, but there's always a motive-good or bad."

"Orochimaru was a narcissist and a sociopath," he told her sternly, "he wasn't capable of feeling remorse for what he did to those people, but he was also manipulative and understood how to control people with their own emotions. He was a master in the art of extortion, by every definition of the word. Many people fell for his charms, not just her."

Erisu walked in silence for a few moments as she considered his words. "She'd always been a lonely-heart." Her voice was so soft it was hard to make out. "She was codependent, desperate for love and support... needing to feel special."

"Everyone wants to feel valuable," he replied as the streets started to brighten from the golden lights spreading through the windows.

"But she needed to know that one mustn't measure their worth by its apparent value to someone else." A sort of burdened regret weighed down her words and her eyes grew haunted. "I enabled her to the point where she could barely function without me... and then I left. That drove her into the arms of the very same man who created that undead horde, drove her to suicide."

"Risu..." he began, thinking she was blaming herself again.

"It's the same way with Yusha and my mother. He needs her approval and will do anything to get it."

A cloud passed over the moon as the inn came into sight. Villagers were emerging from their homes now, heading towards the burn sight and whispering excitedly to one another. In the shadow of the multilevelled building the two ninjas slowed to a stop.

"...my mother," Erisu said slowly, "she's like Orochimaru..."

Kakashi watched her in silence as her thoughts swirled behind her crystalline irises.

"...she's insane but she has so much charisma, such an interpersonal magnetism that draws people to her. She brainwashes them into believing her ideology, isolates them and rejects any form of scrutiny." She looked back up and her eyes were round with fear. "If she gets the power she desires, if she learns to weaponize the shikigami..."

"She's still just a normal woman," Kakashi reassured her, "she doesn't have the abilities of a ninja."

"No, but she has numbers," Erisu maintained with audible anxiety, "she's already created an autocratic system and controls every aspect of her follower's lives! And not being a shinobi only gives her more power! She's just like everyone else and so they relate to her, but she also has them believing she's a prophetess and so they worship her! They _adore_ her, that's what's scary!"

"That's why we're going to put an end to the cult now," Kakashi insisted as he stepped closer. "She won't get the chance to spread her beliefs."

"But Kakashi..." Erisu noticed the increasing amounts of people appearing in the street around them and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Don't you see? It's just like with Orochimaru-sama's subjects and servants. We'll never catch all of them."

The utterance resonated in him and he couldn't respond. She was right: even if they killed Aya and Rokurou, they'd run the risk of turning them into martyrs. The rest of The Body would scatter, spread their rhetoric, and the cult could reform under knew leadership.

"You can't kill the dead," Erisu said, "and you can't kill an idea."

An autumn wind carried the smell of frost as it skated through the village and cut through Kakashi's clothes. They stood there, a foot apart, gazing at each other in chilled contemplation as they realized the true scope of their mission.

They had to do more than simply arrest the cult's leaders and get the children out alive, they had to put an end to an ideological concept. What were kunai against belief? They couldn't kill the entire congregation, that would be genocide. Besides, some might have been coerced and therefore were still saveable through reeducation and therapy. And imprisoning them all was a good threat but in reality it wasn't plausible unless they'd all committed legitimate crimes. Furthermore many, if not all, weren't even from Konoha. The Hokage had no power in the Land of Iron...

"If..." He thought carefully. "...if we can disprove her, expose her as a fraud in front of the cult..."

Erisu caught on instantly. "They might lose their faith and abandon the cause..!"

"They might even turn on her," Kakashi added as the idea solidified. "She'd be powerless without her following, and if they assisted us in overthrowing her and Rokurou..."

Erisu flinched at his name and Kakashi grimaced beneath his mask.

"Sorry," he amended.

"No, I'm sorry." Her jaw set. "I shouldn't fear a name."

His eye softened as he admired her determination. *She really is brave, facing her fears and past alike...*

"Cmon." He settled his hand on her waist and ushered her towards the inn. "We can make plans later, for now let's get you cleaned up."

"Me?" She smirked. "I'm not the one covered in soot and zombie guts."

"I'll send Yamato to find a bathhouse when he gets back," Kakashi promised as he slid open the latticed shōji door.

* * *

Inside, the scruffy looking innkeeper was peering through the window intently, watching the swarms of people flocking towards the fields. Erisu floated over to him immediately, drawn by his distress.

"Excuse me sir," she started politely but he rounded on her.

"You killed them?!" He demanded, grasping her shoulders roughly. "You killed the demons?"

Kakashi snapped open his thigh holster and hooked his finger around a kunai, but the innkeeper only shook her in his onslaught of emotion.

"Er-yes," Erisu stammered, "well, that is, my sensei and comrades did."

The man pushed his face close to hers, his dark hair and high brow glistening with sweat. "But they cannot be killed! How did you do it?!"

"Fire," she answered hastily, "we burned them."

"But they will rise again!" He looked absolutely mad with fright. "They are the spirits of those who served Orichimaru-sama, come to punish us for failing them!"

"They are the bodies of the dead," she corrected him as she regained her composure. She gently pried his hands from her shoulders and held them comfortingly. "But I assure you, they are not Yokai. They are corpses being moved by chakra, a jutsu likely designed by Orochimaru-sama, but only a jutsu all the same."

The man's fear wavered, and he seemed to calm down slightly. "They're really dead?"

"Burnt to a crisp."

The innkeeper slumped against the wall and mopped his brow with the cuff of his kimono.

"How long have the dead been tormenting your village?" Erisu asked in that voice that could lull even the cruelest tyrant into compliance.

"Since Orochimaru-sama was slain," he replied. "They come when the sun sets and kill anyone in their oath unless we give them an offering it the jizō statues at the outskirts of the village."

"A shrine to Ojizō-sama?" Erisu specified in confusion.

The man nodded eagerly. "Yes! This is his retribution for letting our children be killed by Orochimaru-sama!"

Erisu cast Kakashi a meaningful look and he nodded in silent agreement. "Where is this shrine?" He asked of the innkeeper, "can you give us directions?"

The raggedy man looked from each of them with unease. "I... I could, yes. But it's dangerous at night."

Kakashi scoffed in amusement. "I think we can take care of ourselves."

"R-right." His eyes rounded as he took in the weapons and forehead protectors. "Of course you can."

"So where are these Jizō statues?" Kakashi pressed.

"About half a league north on the old Old Market Byway. It's just across the bridge." He paused and gave them another weighing look. "You're from the Leaf Village?"

Erisu glanced at Kakashi before replying in affirmation. "We're ninja from Konoha, yes."

"Has your Hokage sent you to help us recover from your Sannin's reign?"

"I'm afraid not," Kakashi said joylessly, "we're just passing through on other business."

The man's face crumpled. "But he was one of yours! It's your job to help the people he controlled!"

Erisu fell back to Kakashi's side and he knew she was being wracked with guilt over what the rogue Leaf ninja had done.

"That's not my decision to make. I'm neither the Hokage or a member if the Konoha Go-Ikenban," Kakashi told him with honest calm. "But I'll bring the issue to Tsunade-sama when we've completed our current mission."

His eyes were damp with desperation. "The servants of Orochimaru-sama have been demanding food!" He blurted. "We're starving but if we don't give them 70% of our harvest they'll kill us!"

Erisu and Kakashi exchanged a grim look; their hunch had been correct. The man was beside himself and Kakashi noticed that his sternum and ribs were visible beneath the weathered skin of his chest and his kimono was faded and threadbare. His hair was unwashed and his face a mess of poorly cut hair, as if he'd tried to shave without a mirror.

"Look," Kakashi began curtly, "we don't have time to discuss this right now but we will investigate the shrine before we leave and if we encounter any outlaws or rogues they'll be dealt with. That's the best I can offer." He could feel Erisu disapproving beside him but ignored it. "For now could you bring up some hot water and towels to our suite? And if we leave before our companions return would you tell them we went to the Jizō statues?"

The man looked momentarily overwhelmed. "Your companions?"

"A tall woman with long back hair and a man with a burned face," Kakashi described patiently, "there's also a dark haired, blind-looking man, and another man dressed like me but wearing a face guard" -he tapped his headband- "in place of one of these. You'll know them when you see them."

The innkeeper nodded. "Of course." He shot Erisu a last nervous look and started shuffling away. "I'll get your water and towels."

"Thank you, sir!" Erisu called after him but he didn't respond.

The two shinobi headed up the stairs in a state of disquiet. As they reached the first landing and turned to start up the second flight Erisu started to speak but Kakashi cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Risu," he said heavily, "but we can't hang around and fix all these people's problems. We have to stay mission minded."

She scowled, although it looked more like a cute pout, and said, "isn't he right though? Isn't Orochimaru the responsibility of The Leaf?"

"Maybe," Kakashi allowed, "but just as I said before, it's not our place to make such a judgement. That decision lies with Tsunade-sama and the council of elders."

"That's bureaucratic nonsense," she said fiercely, "if it's left with the Go-Ikenban it'll become a convoluted political runaround about funds and bylaws while the people suffer in silence! It takes them months, if not years, to come to a unanimous decision and by then they've dehumanized the situation to the point where they only see the figures. They don't take even register how many individual lives have been lost."

Kakashi regarded her evenly. "You know, I'm glad you're on my side and not The Body's because that rebellious spirit of yours could cause a lot of trouble."

"You're changing the subject," she shot at him as they reached their suite.

"Let's just try and stay focused," he said with flinty logic.

Erisu narrowed her eyes. "Is it really so outlandish to want to defend these villagers?" She demanded, "they were caught in a conflict they had nothing to do with. Too many wars are raged at the expense of the little folk. We spend so much time and effort battling villains once they've already declared themselves our enemies when we should be looking at the source of the problem. Evil isn't born, it's made. By taking people's liberties, denying them of their right to food, shelter, and security, leaving them frightened, bitter, and angry... That's how you create new criminals. Helping these people now prevents them from turning on us later."

Kakashi's fingers were rested on the door handle but his eyes were fixed on Erisu. She was so quiet most of the time that it was easy to forget how well she could argue. "You're right," he said, "you're totally right."

Her brows twitched with uncertainty. "Then..?"

"We'll investigate the Jizō shrine and eliminate any risks in our path but we can't stay here and rebuild this town."

She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Clearly disappointed but Kakashi was steadfast in his decision to not veer too far from their goal.

"There's a threat already developed that we must contend with," he reminded her, "you're on your deathbed, your siblings are in danger, and your mother is massing a force that plans on destroying the ninja world."

"I know that..." She bit her lip. "But I hate standing by while these people are needlessly abused."

"The Body must be eliminated before we set our sights on rebuilding the countryside," he stressed, "and though it may seem harsh, Konoha *really doesn't* have the funds and numbers to help these people right now, not while we're already battling the Akatsuki."

Erisu took the doorknob from him and pushed her way inside. Kakashi lingered in the hall for a moment before following. She'd come around, he was certain. It was just hard for her to refrain from fixing things. She was like a mechanic for emotions, unable to put down her screwdriver when she could see a problem. She was always tinkering with people's feelings in hopes of making them run smoothly, but these hurts couldn't be helped, not at the moment anyway.

Inside the room he found her compulsively tidying: stacking supplies, sorting clothing, and straightening the furniture. He crossed the room in two long strides and caught her hands.

"Risu-chan, calm down." He entwined their fingers and urged her to look at him. Her eyes were swimming with unrest. "Get yourself cleaned up," he instructed, "we're going to the shrine."

The shadow lifted from her face. "For realsies?"

"You did not just say that." He shook his head and opened his rucksack. "We should follow up the lead, it's on our path anyways." He produced a clean uniform and set it on the vanity. "Tonight was supposed to be a chance for the team to recharge." He sighed. "...but we've been up most of the night depleting our chakra and dulling our blades."

"No rest for the wicked," Erisu replied as she settled herself on the bed and started brushing out her hair. The moonlight caught on the pale strands and gleamed on the surface of her silvery eyes as she gazed at nothing in particular. Her legs were folded and her body was so still it looked as if she were meditating.

Kakashi tried not to stare at her as he undid his headband and shouldered out of his vest but it was a challenge to keep his thoughts under control so he turned away to pull his sweater over his head. The rhythm of the brushing ceased and he glanced over his shoulder to find her looking up at him with an indiscernible expression.

His brows knitted slightly. "What is it?"

Her lips parted but no sound came out so she closed her mouth again and averted her eyes. He started towards her curiously but a knock at the door halted him mid-step.

"Room service!" Called the rough voice of the innkeeper from the hall.

"I'll get it," Erisu chirped and darted past him. As she reached the door she swayed for a moment and bumped into the wall as though she'd gone blind. She recovered instantly and swung the door wide to reveal the innkeeper laden with towels and a large basin of steaming water.

"Room service," he repeated meekly as his eyes fell on the disembodied head with a kunai embedded between its eyes that was still laying on the table. He shoved the towels into Erisu, heaved the basin on top of the linens, and scurried away without a backwards glance.

Erisu wobbled under the weight of her burden as she turned around and shut the door with her foot, her round eyes poking out from above the metal bowl. "A little help, O-sama?"

They set the basin on the vanity beneath the window and placed the towels at its side. The hot water vapour rapidly fogged the glass as Erisu shed her dusty kimono and draped it over the back of a chair. She set about arranging a clean outfit as Kakashi unclasped his kasuri mail and struggled out of it. He suddenly realized, as his shoulder twinged with pain, that he'd pulled a muscle during his and Sota's battle against the scarecrows. Now his shoulder was stiff and inflexible. He glowered as he rotated his arm in its socket.

 _I'm not that old yet_ , he thought grudgingly, _I'm still in my prime_...

With a last irritated stretch, Kakashi reached around Erisu for a towel. He plunged the plush fabric into the water and pressed the heat into his eyes. The smoke had caught in his mask, making every breath unpleasant but now he could feel the steam on his skin as he sopped away the grit. Rivulets ran over his jaw and down his throat as he sponged his cheekbones and swabbed his brow. Washing his face had never felt so good.

He lowered the towel and exhaled gratefully only to catch sight of Erisu, who was staring over her shoulder at him only centimetres away. Her eyes were as round as moons and wandering over him. Distracted, Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

"What..?" Maybe she was still unaccustomed to seeing his face. Then it dawned on him. "Oh..." Self conscious, he picked up his undershirt but it was cold and soiled.

"Your chest..." Erisu faced him, her eyes roving over his bare torso, and Kakashi froze up. She was so close her could see her heartbeat in her throat. "How did you get that scar?"

"Oh, that?" He dropping his shirt back onto the floor and trailed his fingers over the long diagonal slash. It ran from just below his left collarbone and down to his right hip. "Zabuza, Demon of the Mist." He gave a wry smile to the grisly wound. "Team Seven and I fought him and his companion a few years back."

"So that's from the notorious execution blade, Kubikiribōchō?" Erisu reached for him, but caught herself. "May I?"

"Hm?" Kakashi hesitated, he was never sure how to feel about her morbid curiosity but if she wanted to touch him... "Go ahead."

Her fingertips were warm as she felt the top of the scar ever so gently., as if she thought it might still hurt. Her brow creased in fascination as she traced the deep line across his pec and over his ribs. The touch was electric and set his nerves aflame as she slid down his abdomen to his sharp hipbone. Pausing there, Erisu glanced up at him and smiled playfully.

"I bet you kept on fighting even with a gash like this, didn't you, sensei?" Her hand relaxed and her fingertips rested on the waistline of his trousers, the weight pulling the fabric slightly. Kakashi couldn't help noticing that her hands were as tiny as a china doll's.

He scoffed and dropped his towel on her head. "I might have," he answered mysteriously, "I couldn't just call for a time out to bandage myself, could I? Well..." He chuckled as he strolled back over to his rucksack. "I could've tried but I doubt it would've ended well."

Behind him Erisu tugged the cloth off and hovered after him. "Your back is scarred too," she commented and he felt her hands brush over his shoulder blades. "Burns and slashes..." She glided down his spine and touched the rippled tissue where he'd once been set on fire. "Your whole career is catalogued on your skin."

He whipped around and caught her wrist, eliciting a yelp of alarm. "What are you doing, Risu-chan?" He leaned over her and forced himself to keep a straight face even though his heart was racing.

"I-I'm sorry?" She stammered, "did I offend-"

He took a step closer, tugging her towards him at the same time. "Are you..." The corner of his mouth tilted up in a crooked smirk. "...coming on to me?"

She turned as pink as a cherry blossom and stuttered incoherently. How could she be so awkward and adorable at the same time? It was criminal. Without warning, Kakashi yanked her against him and rested his forehead against hers.

"S-sensei.." She began but he cut her off.

"Don't do that," he warned as his other hand settled on the small of her back to urge her even closer, pressing her flat stomach against his hips. "Don't call me sensei right now." He ran his mouth over her cheek to her jaw. "A sensei isn't allowed..." He kissed her neck, tasting sugar. "...to do what I'm about to-"

"Kakashi!" She untangled herself from him and back stepped rapidly. " _We can't_!"

The floorboards creaked under his sandals as he pursued her across the room. "Can't what?" She dodged away from him and doubled back around the table with him right behind her. Then she was stopped short by the edge of the bed and his smile spread. He advanced on her and grasped her by the waist in one hand, running his fingers through her downy hair with the other. "What's it you _think_ we're doing, Risu?"

Erisu bit her lip nervously, breaking the glossy skin. Kakashi's hand ran up her body, over bandages and her skintight shirt until he caught her face and tilted her head back to meet her eyes.

"What's gotten into you?" She whispered as the hand in her hair snaked back down to her thigh.

He shrugged. "A Shikigami maybe?" Her lips were reddened from being bitten and trembling slightly with confusion.

"I mean it." His mouth was on hers before she finished her sentence and as soon as he tasted her, tasted the sweetness and heat of her breath, he was lost. Her objections forgotten, Erisu kissed him back. Their mouths worked against each other with increasing violence until she slipped her tongue along the underside of his upper lip. His fingers tightened in her hair and he tugged her lip with his teeth making her whimper from both pain and pleasure.

She was going slack in his arms, overwhelmed by the ecstasy of the kiss. Then he broke away and pushed her onto the bed, watching her fall onto the pillows before he was on her again. It felt like years since he'd been able to feel her like this, years since he'd been touched, and how he'd longed for it.

Pressing himself between her legs Kakashi felt for the pin holding her bandages in place. Erisu gripped his back as he started pulling her undershirt loose from the tensors binding her waist. He worked the fabric up until the ivory plain of her abdomen was visible, then he pressed his mouth hungrily to the exposed skin, desperate to taste every inch of her. As he eased the shirt further upwards he followed it with his tongue, making Erisu writhe.

"Kakashi..." She managed through a gasp as he kissed the rise of her ribcage. "We really can't..."

"Relax, Risu-chan," he murmured as he started unwinding the wrappings around her hips. He found the waistband of her reinforced tights and pulled them down to expose the hem of panties made entirely of black lace. To think someone so bookish and demure would wear such scandalous lingerie...

Then Erisu twisted and flipped Kakashi onto his back, straddling him. He admired the shape of her torso, unable to keep his hands off of her. Reaching up to pull her down on him, he tried to sit up slightly but she pinned him with a hand on his chest.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said with astounding authority. "The others could be back any minute and the door is unlocked."

It took him a moment to register her words on account of her heaving chest and wild hair.

"Remember what happened in the archives?" She pulled her shirt back down to cover her stomach and glanced over her shoulder. "Only this time it wouldn't be Jiraiya-sama."

The image of Yuma or Tenzō walking in on them was enough to make him regain his senses. He groaned softly and tried to figure out a solution other than stopping but couldn't. Grasping her by the hip, Kakashi flung her over and got on top again. Her legs were still around him and he thrust against her slow but hard. Her spine arched and she made a sound that nearly made him lose all reason again but he managed to keep his head.

"You're right," he said morosely, "do you think we'll ever get a chance to be alone without running the risk of discovery or death?"

Her hair was half covering her face as she gave him an impish grin. "Not likely."


	51. Chapter 49: Waking Nightmare

**火**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FORTY-NINE**

 _ **Waking Nightmare**_

* * *

 **~Kakashi~**

* * *

The sun was beginning to crawl up from behind the expanse of golden rice fields as Kakashi and Erisu crossed a gently arched footbridge barely wide enough for a wagon to cross. It was a rickety thing, wooden, splintered, and unpainted and yet there was a sort of lonely beauty to it as it spanned the slow moving creek of plantation runoff.

Erisu was a few steps ahead, her kimono bound tight on her supple frame that was almost lost in the grey hue of predawn. Kakashi was savouring the time he had alone with her while forcibly resisting touching her... The others would be along soon and even though Kakashi was impatient to be getting on with the mission there was still a part of him that wished he could've just wasted his hours with Erisu back at the inn.

"Oh, by the sun and stars!" She exclaimed at that moment.

She dashed ahead to the opposite bank where there appeared to be a cemetery. As Kakashi neared he realized they weren't tombstones but stone statues of a monk bearing a staff and prayer beads. Scattered amidst the numerous rows of knee high men were wilted flowers, their petals scattered across the overgrown grass. There were dolls with tattered dresses and wooden building blocks whose paint had been chipped away from all the years they'd been here, and here and there a monk was wearing infant clothing...a red bonnet or a faded bib. It was tragic.

Erisu was kneeling before the nearest of the statues. "Look at you, Ojizō-sama," she murmured as she stroked his featureless face, eroded by time. "You've been neglected as of late, haven't you?"

She pressed her hands together and bowed her head, praying for all the stillborn babies and miscarriages perhaps? When she looked up again her eyes were quite clear.

"There're no monks to maintain the shrine," she commented as she stood. "Not even an awning to protect them from the elements."

"No, but people have been here recently," he said. "Look." There were several sacks of rice piled at the far end of the statues alongside crates of fresh produce and a couple barrels of sake.

Without waiting for her to respond, Kakashi drew blood and summoned Pakkun. The pug peered up at him through the dark looking as if he'd just woken up.

"What up?" He asked gruffly as he took in the rows of statues. "Bit of a creepy place, isn't it?"

"I want you to investigate the surrounding area for signs of campers or anything of the sort. Someone has been coming to this location regularly to collect supplies but this offering-" he nodded towards the crates and sacks "-hasn't been received yet. The vegetables are still fresh so it must've been delivered recently, meaning whoever it's meant for should be on their way to pick it up."

Pakkun's ears twitched as he padded through the deteriorating monks to reach the rations. As he set to work discerning scents Kakashi turned back to Erisu who was quietly clearing dead leaves away from the effigies.

"Are you alright?" He said softly, "you seem a bit off..."

"I'm fine," she responded as she straightened again. "It's only..." She seemed unable to finish.

"Only what?"

Erisu turned her eerie lamp-like eyes on him and he was taken aback by the profound sorrow they contained.

"Do you ever plan on having children..?"

The question seemed random at first but he realized it was because of where they were, who-or rather what-they were with: the bodhisattva of hell-beings, Ojizō-sama. The Guardian of children and the patron deity of deceased children and aborted fetuses who ferried their souls to the afterlife was all orotund them, dilapidated though he may be.

"I've thought about it," he said delicately, "everyone does at one point or another. We all have a genetical predisposition to want to continue our legacy... Have you thought about it?"

Her eyes misted over and it was blatantly clear that she had. "Only since I realized I'll likely never get the chance...considering."

"You might," he said as he tilted his head to peer at her through the lowlight. "This curse isn't going to be the end of your life, Risu-chan."

"You keep saying that, but I'm afraid that I don't actually believe it." She turned back to the disciples of Buddha and he saw resignation written in every line of her body. "I'm growing more and more certain that this mission will claim my life."

"I won't let that happen," Kakashi told her sharply, "I won't allow my comrade to die."

"Are you this sentimental about everyone or am I just a peculiar case?" She glanced back up and she was smiling, but her lips were curved with sorrow. "If things were different, if I hadn't happened upon you in the woods, hadn't turned out to have such an unusual illness...would you still?"

"Risu..." He began uncertainly. She seemed strange, and more than her usual airy peculiarities. "What's going on with you?"

Her eyes had shifted back to the statues and the look on her face was indescribable. "For the first time really...I'm actually wondering what I'll do next if I survive the family reunion."

"Well..." He narrowed his eyes as he tried to gauge her emotions. "That's a good thing isn't it?"

"I suppose." She turned to face him suddenly and there was a different look in her eyes as she seemed to size him up. "But perhaps I'm meant to die, marked for it. I doubt the shinigami would be too happy with us from taking a soul from them."

Something definitely was up with her. "The sun is nearly up," he said instead of responding to her weird suggestion. "You must be tired."

"I slept more than you, what with my obnoxious fainting. But to be honest, it's hard to tell sleepiness from fatigue these days. I'm always tired but always restless. How insomnia tends to roll, is it not?"

"Yusha mentioned nightmares," Kakashi began carefully, "nightmares where you'd awaken saying 'burn'..."

"I regularly relived the night of the house fire," Erisu answered, avoiding eye contact.

"But that night..." He moved into her line of sight and urged her to meet his gaze. "Inoichi said you were laughing, and saying-"

"'Burn'. Yes. That's correct." Her expression was calm and open about it, so much so that he wondered why he'd ever felt wary about bringing the subject up. "Some people respond to shock differently. My mother reacted with anger, Emi with silence, Rūka with fear and so on. I personally processed my shock with laughter, as did Yusha. The loss of our home and personal effects didn't sink in until the following morning."

Kakashi tilted his head. "So, it was just shock? Nothing... _else_?"

Erisu's demeanour altered. Her stance grew defensive and her lips pressed into a line. "Do you actually want to know the answer as to why I was so happy that my childhood home was in flames? Or are you asking out of professional curiosity"

He considered her for a long moment. It seemed like a rather complex topic, especially during such a tense and time pressed situation, but was also likely to be his last moment alone with her for the rest of the mission. He needed to know now, however long the answer.

"The truth," he answered with certainty, "the entire truth this time. Don't leave anything out. I want to know about the fire, the dreams, your uncharacteristically jaded attitude-everything."

She nodded slowly and tousled her unruly mop of white-blonde hair. "Alright," she said at last, meeting his eyes, "everything. Where should I begin?"

"Start with the fire," he advised, "why were you really laughing?"

"The fire was liberating," she answered simply, "it destroyed the house that I'd been abused in and so, in the tunnel vision of shock, I saw it as the end to the pain. I was still too traumatized to comprehend that the real source of the abuse was more complex, but that's not unusual in such situations."

"I...understand." And he meant it.

"I convinced myself that everything was going to change after that," she went on, "convinced myself that my mother might reconsider her fanatical beliefs since her god must've willed the destruction of our home. I convinced myself that the bizarre moment of joy that Yusha and I shared had brought us closer, made him care about me the way elder brothers generally do. And I _even_ convinced myself that the near death experience posed by the fire and the renewed attention from the authorities might've scared Rokurou enough to keep him from acting on his desires..." She paused to take a deep breath and blinked rapidly. "But I was deluding myself."

Kakashi started to speak but she was faster.

"People say to 'be optimistic', or 'hope for the best', but I took that too far." She shook her head and her voice hardened with anger towards herself. "I didn't just find the good in people, I _invented_ it. People don't just change overnight, most people barely change in their entire lives, besides becoming more selfish and cold as they age."

Kakashi tried to speak again but Erisu's voice was rising as tears started to form, catching the starlight and making her eyes look like pools of liquid chalcedony.

"I should've gone to the authorities right after Rokorou grabbed me in the market," she told him, hands trembling with distress. "I should've seen the red flag when he chose to touch me in a populated area, should've recognized it for what it was! He wasn't scared, the opposite was true! He learned that day that he could assault me in public and _get away with it_!"

"He won't get away with it," Kakashi said fiercely.

"He already _did_!" She shouted, as everything she'd seemed to want to say for ages started tumbling out, "and he's probably getting away with it with Emi right now!" She choked on a sob before adding in a voice that was begging him to understand, "It's more that just a frightening ordeal, it damages a person for life! Because of..." She swallowed. "Because of what he did to me I became so afraid of men that I didn't dare get close to anyone! I kicked a doctor in the face for doing a routine check up! I'd get severe anxiety over a mere compliment! I was so closed off to the opposite sex that I thought I was either lesbian or asexual before I met you!"

"You...what?"

"And I'm so fucked up that I _murdered_ the one person I did love!" The tears escaped her eyes at last as she covered her mouth as if to hide her words from him.

"He's not going to get away with it," Kakashi tried to tell her again but she didn't even hear him.

"Do you know what's even worse than being molested as a child..?"

He closed his eyes, unable to bear her tortured expression, and shook his head.

"Not being believed. A child, terrified and confused, manages to build up enough courage to tell their mother only to be accused of lying... To be punished..." Kakashi dared to look at her again to find her with her face buried in her hands, shoulders jerking with silent sobs.

"How any mother could do that..." Kakashi struggled to keep his voice steady. "It's incomprehensible."

"Yeah..." Erisu wiped her eyes rather violently. "Aya was never the most maternal sort. And speaking of my mother... Well, the fire didn't give rise to any skepticism on her part." She laughed humourlessly. "Oh no! It only reinforced her obsession. Drove her over the edge and compelled her to uproot us all from Konoha without so much as leaving a note. Upon settling in The Iron Lands Rokurou's illicit activities returned in full force and Aya responded by shaming me and telling me that I was asking for it by smiling too much and being too friendly." She scoffed but her eyes were brimming with tears. "Imagine: a fourteen year old girl being accused of flirting with her fifty-something stepfather. _The man married to her own mother_."

"Where was Yusha?" Kakashi asked as gently as he could.

"Yusha..." She echoed and her voice broke. With another soundless sob, Erisu slumped against the shrine for support. After steadying herself with a few more trembling gasps she continued in a voice shaking with emotion. "You've met him, seen his expressions of brotherly love first hand. He did and is still doing the same thing that I did: deliberately deluding himself because lies are easier to stomach than the truth."

"Risu..." Kakashi began but had no words to comfort her. What could he possibly say?

"The sickest part is I know that Yusha still cares." Her voice was shattered and weak, the words barely managing to form through her throat that was constricted with emotion. "He stood by, refusing to take action, lied about it to anyone who asked, and then took off when money got tight. And yet, in his own, strange way, he somehow still cares about me. _Somewhere_ beneath all the layers of false bravado, religious fanaticism, sense of entitlement, and a mild Oedipus Complex..." She closed her eyes and took another deep bracing breath. "And I lied," she said with a miserable nod, "back at Asuma-sensei's funeral when you asked about whether I'd had any contact with Yusha... I lied."

Kakashi exhaled slowly and took a moment to scan the brightening horizon before responding. "Why?"

She managed a quivering smile as fresh tears rolled down her ashen cheeks and shrugged helplessly. "I don't even know why," she told him, "and that's what scares me. I looked you directly in the eye and lied, and I had no reason to. I hadn't done anything wrong but I still lied." She hiccoughed and slid down the shrine wall to sit on the ground, pulling her knees up like a wall.

"What exactly was the lie?"

"I said I hadn't spoken to him in five years and although that was technically true, I'd sent him a telegram while I was living at the Fire Temple..."

"And?" He prompted, careful not to sound to harsh.

"I asked if he would meet me," she said tearily, "he answered, but only to politely decline. Citing that he 'didn't want to associate with someone who'd abandoned our mother and broken her heart'."

Kakashi was about to express his anger towards her brother but stopped himself as he regarded her with a new uncertainty. "And that was the last time you had contact with him before he was taken into Konoha custody?"

"Yes," Erisu answered, "I never wrote him back after that. It just didn't seem relevant to bring up in the cemetery since nothing came from it."

Kakashi clenched his jaw. "Really?"

"I didn't know you were already looking for him," she said desperately, "I just saw it as more reason for you to hate my family and thought it would do more harm than good."

"Then why are you telling me now?"

"You asked for the entire truth," she murmured, "so I'm giving it to you."

He paced away as he digested everything she'd told him thus far and then swept back again and hooked his thumb in his pocket. He was relieved to know he believed her. If he stopped trusting her now all would be lost.

"And the nightmares?"

Those eerie silver-blue orbs of hers lowered for a moment as she composed herself. She hastily cleared her cheeks of tear tracks and pushed her hair back out of her face. "There are two nightmares that reoccur the most. The first is of my childhood home but it's always distorted, rooms in the wrong places, halls elongated, and doors that open into nothing. Sometimes it's on fire, but more often it's not." She chewed her lip and tried eye contact for a moment before dropping her face again. "The house is gone but the memories never will be."

"And the other dream?"

"It's more abstract," she said in discomfort, "a lake of blood, lightning storms... but most disturbing is the Sharingan moon."

Kakashi, distracted, stepped closer. "Sharingan?" He repeated. "When did you start having this dream."

"After the Uchiha Downfall but it's been happening more often since I became a genin," probably because of resurfacing emotions involving Itachi-senpai and Sasuke-san." He head tilted and she added, "it could also be due, in part at least, to being around you and Haruno-san with all your concern regarding the last remaining Uchiha."

Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair, strangely irked by the images she'd described. What Erisu didn't know was that Sasuke wasn't the only Uchiha... That masked man, Tobi-he forced himself to suppress his misgivings for now. When he turned back to Erisu she was on her feet tightening her obi.

"Erisu," he said a little sharper than he intended, "you still haven't explained your weird behaviour. The shouting, swearing, cynicism... It's just not like you."

"Well..." She eyed him and placidly folded her hands in front of her. "I thought what I already told you might give you some idea as to why I've been stressed out and emotional as of late but if you need me to explain it further..."

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, "you're right."

Erisu merely blinked. "Maybe I should explain it, since I've been doing so much of that already."

" _Risu_..."

"First of all, I'm terminally ill due to a curse placed upon me by my own mother, which is feeding a shikigami that is seemingly inhabiting my brother. My brother who is a prisoner, by the way, and has just seen me for the first time after I placed him under a torturous genjutsu in order to extract information from his mind against his will. This genjutsu also put my uncle's life in jeopardy and placed both of my earlier mentioned male family members, as well as myself, into a state of psychological torture for an uncertain number of days."

Kakashi back stepped and rubbed his neck. "Alright, Erisu, you've made your point."

"Have I?" There was no anger to her voice, in fact she sounded particularly level headed which made her almost intimidating as she approached him.

"You have," he insisted.

"I'm not certain you fully understand," she said softly, "I was known as The Ninja of Nightmares."

"Yes..." He wasn't sure where she was going with this.

"Eye contact," she said with a sad smile, "that's all I need. I look in one's eyes and I know their hopes, desires, their intentions..." She paused and her gaze shifted past him to nothing in particular. "but above all else, I know their most primal of fears.

"The Ninja of Nightmares weaponizes one's emotions, arms herself with their memories, and dooms them to a prison constructed from their nightmares." Erisu raised her eyes to Kakashi's and they were pink fractals made of fear. "That's what I did," she whispered, disgusted by herself, "my siblings' father, my unrequited love, a complete stranger whose name I still don't know." She closed her right eye and brushed her fingertips over her shadowy lid as if touching a weapon of mass destruction. "Even my own brother..."

"You didn't have a choice in any of those situations," he told her firmly.

"But I knowingly condemned them to their nightmares." Erisu's eyes fogged back to blue and she wrapped her arms around herself. "...only this last time something went wrong."

"You couldn't have known it would backfire-"

"This time... _I_ was the victim, the ninja _in_ the nightmares." Her voice became scarcely audibly and her expression was suddenly so far away she seemed almost transparent. As if she were still trapped in a different world. "I thought I knew what I was in for. Thought it'd be that burning house, those ice cold eyes... But it was far worse. My jutsu created new nightmares. My fondest memory, my secret desire, my most beloved person...it was _all_ distorted, all twisted. My very happiness was turned against me." She was shaking all over and her eyes were reddening with blood but she managed to hold back the tears. "The worst part is I did it to myself." She raised her face to Kakashi's and he suddenly realized how broken she really was. " _I am my own worst nightmare_."

Lost for words, Kakashi could only gaze at her in solemn silence. Of course the jutsu had disturbed her but what she was describing... He understood then why she'd screamed at his touch in the Hokage's office, why she flinched away from him and evaded anything more than a kiss.

"Risu-chan," he said at last, "I'm sorry."

She blinked up at him in confusion. "For what?"

"Everything." He dared approach but stayed just out of reach. "I'm sorry that your mother neglected and betrayed you. I'm sorry that Rokurou abused you. You were cheated out of the family-the life-you deserved." He risked another step forward. "You fell through the cracks of the law and, on my honour as a shinobi, I'll do everything within my power to prevent those things from happening to any other child. Starting with Emi and Rūka. We're going to find them, save them, and make the ones responsible for all of this sorry."

"Kakashi." She shook her head with something bordering on wonder. "I don't want apologies, I never really did. Justice isn't even my end goal in regards to Aya and her husband. I just want honesty."

"Honesty?" He echoed, not following.

"Aya and Rokurou did terrible things," she said, "Yusha, although not actively involved in those things, didn't do anything to prevent them which is almost as bad. But I've done terrible things to, so have you, so has everyone. I don't need to make them suffer, that wouldn't solve anything. I need them to admit it. They don't need to even feel bad about it, I just want them to confess.

The sun was bleeding through the sky and throwing the shrine into a contrast of deep shadows and gleaming stone behind her as she spoke with that unwavering calm.

"Lies are the real villain here. Every trial and twist on our path was due to someone withholding the truth. My stepfather lied to my mother so she would trust and obey him. My mother lied to everyone to conceal her husband's perversion. My brother lied to protect her and I lied about the curse in hopes of protecting Emi and Rūka."

"But telling the truth doesn't change what they did," Kakashi pointed out, "they still committed crimes."

"You lied." She looked him in the eyes and he found no blame there, only honesty. "You lie all the time. About why you're always late, about what's really going on with Uzamaki-san and the Akatsuki. You lied about detaining Yusha and lied to him too. You're bound to lie about our relationship if your Team ever asks."

"Now, Erisu, I'm not..." but she dismissed him with a smile.

"Even infants lie." She sounded almost serene as her gaze swept over the grotesque, crumbling statues and the trinkets of dead children. "They cry, feigning distress, to deceive people in order to draw them in. It's a natural defence mechanism of humans, and other species as well. That doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make it wrong."

Her voice lowered and her smile faded. "But when people start believing their own lies everyone suffers. When truth loses its meaning how can you tell reality from fabrication? Who's to know that we're not all living in a massive lie? A dream...a nightmare?"

She traced her finger along the spiral carved in her forehead protector.

"I need to know that the house did burn, that Aya did know and still chose to do nothing," she said with a voice as smooth as Demon Lake. "I need to know that this curse will claim my life. I need to know that this is *real*, that I'm awake and not still trapped inside my nightmares."

Kakashi swept forward on instinct and pulled her into his chest. She stiffened against him as he shrouded her in his arms.

"Look at me," Kakashi said firmly, "do you think that I'm a nightmare?"

Erisu searched his eyes for an achingly long while. "You're not a nightmare," she said at last, "but you could be a dream...you were gentle and kind at first in the Mental Nightmare as well."

"Risu-chan." He gripped her shoulders tightly as he tried to figure out how to prove his credibility. "I can only imagine what happened while you were in a coma but you have to know that I-the real me- would never hurt you." He gently brushed a stray lock of hair from her face and, with a bracing breath, added, " _daisuki da yo_."

Erisu's eyes rounded further still and she reached up tentatively and pulled down his mask.

"Say that again," she whispered, as she swept her pink gaze over his lips.

" _D-daisuki da yo_...Risu-chan," he repeated, suddenly unable to recall the last time he'd said that to someone.

Erisu's face split into a wistful smile as her Himitsugan trailed over every line of his face, and he could tell that she knew he meant it. She skimmed her lips across his ever so gently before pulling free from his arms. She looked deep into his eye and he felt as though she could see his very soul.

"Kakashi," she said as she folded her hands in front of her formally, " _kimi wa_ _aishiteru_."

* * *

 **~Erisu~**

* * *

Erisu watched as Kakashi's swirling mercury eye widened in disbelief and she felt her heart start to race at her proclamation.

"Risu," he managed as he started towards her again, "do you really..?"

She opened her mouth to reply but at that moment they both detected newcomers. Kakashi turned his head sharply as he caught their scent and Erisu followed his gaze, curious about the intense irritation she felt.

The rest of the team was coming up the overgrown road. As they neared the bridge the noise of them carried over the river. It seemed that interpersonal relations between the members weren't going so smoothly.

Kiyomi was the first to reach them as she stormed up the path with her hair billowing behind her like a cape.

" _Your brother_ ," she said accusingly, " _will not stop singing_."

"Oh." Erisu glanced over at Yusha who was beat boxing loudly at Yamato. The jōnin looked ready to liquidate him. "He does do that sometimes..."

Kiyomi's eyes were like embers as she bore down on Erisu. "Make him stop or I'll set him on fire."

Erisu raised her hands placatingly and retreated a couple steps. "Do you really think I can control _him_?"

"He's pretty good, actually," Sota said amiably as he skipped over. "And it's kinda catchy."

Kiyomi gave him a look that would make a Ibiki cower.

"Boss!" Pakkun leapt out of the grass to land at Kakashi's side. Burrs were clinging to his glossy fur and his paws were caked in dust. "There's a group of rogue shinobi set up in the woods just a couple leagues north of here. Judging by their smell, they're the ones collecting the food."

Kakashi dipped his head curtly and looked over at Yamato who'd just reached them alongside Yusha and Yuma.

"My hounds found the extorters," he told his colleague. "They're on our path."

"Should we go around?" Yamato asked.

"That'd take us too far off course and we've been delayed enough already," Kakashi cast an eye towards Yusha and added, "we should take the most direct route to make up for any decrease in travelling speed."

"I can keep up," Yusha pitched in. "I'm the same rank as Erisu, remember? Plus I'm in very good health." He scratched the bridge of his bruised nose. "...mostly."

"You were unconscious only a few hours ago," Yuma drawled scornfully. "It's a surprise you made the trek here from the village without vomiting."

"I don't vomit," Yusha stated, "vomiting is nasty, and boring, so I don't do it." He flashed a charming grin at the Hyūga who wore an expression of absolute disdain.

"Anyways," Yamato said with a look of warning to Erisu's brother, "we buried what was left of the corpses in a mass grave outside of the village. Downhill, of course, so as to not contaminate the crops."

"Good." It was impressive how easily Kakashi had locked down his emotions already. "Yusha," he turned to her brother and fixed him with a hard stare, "can we trust you?"

Yusha was taken aback. "Uh, I don't know, I mean..." He glanced warily around at the group. "At least half of you were involved in my torture."

"Oh woman up," Kiyomi snapped at him. "They were just doing their jobs. Drop the pity fest and take some responsibility. Are you with us or against us?"

"Let me say this slowly so you'll understand:" His voice was ice. "you are trying to murder my mother and dismantle my faith."

"This is a rescue mission," Erisu told him sharply. "To save our little brother and sister."

Yusha turned his green, lamp-like eyes on her. "Save them from what exactly? A loving family and structured life?" He took a step towards her and Erisu felt Kakashi tense beside her. "Rūka and Emi are fine, Erisu. They're safe, fed, loved, and serving our lord god Izanagi."

"That's not what Emi seems to think," Yuma spoke up.

"Oh really?" Yusha rounded on him. "You've talked to my baby sister, have you?"

"No, but Erisu-chan has."

She left the weight of everyone's faze falling onto her and struggled to keep her back straight and head high.

"You failed to mention that you're pen pals with Emi." Yusha was steaming with resentment over being kept out of the loop. "Last I heard you took off on a selfish whim without even saying goodbye. That's kind of your thing though isn't it? Abandoning people who love you."

"Leave her alone," Yuma growled but her brother ignored him.

"When did you and Emi get so chummy?"

Erisu tightened her lips and glowered at him stubbornly. She wouldn't say anything about her sister's abilities to someone who might betray them. Yuma, however, had different plans.

"She didn't send her letters you idiot!" His features were tight with contempt.

"Yuma-" Yamato began warningly but the Hyūga didn't heed him.

"Emi reached out to her telepathically while she was in the Mental Nightmare and warned her of your parents' plan." Kiyomi elbowed him in the ribs but the damage was already done.

"Emi did what..?" Yusha turned back to Erisu with newfound interest. "That's some ability, reaching across such distance..."

"She's a Hakuchō," Erisu said with uncontainable pride, "and a Yamanaka. But more than that, she's herself." Now that the secret was out, she couldn't help defending her sister's ability. "Emi-chan has always been positively brilliant."

Yusha disregarded everything she'd said, his thoughts elsewhere. "It's good to know your jutsu rebounded, karma I'd say." He strode a few more paces towards her and Erisu could feel Kakashi crackling with electric agitation.

"Well," Yusha's eyes glittered and his voice had grown cold. "What did she say?"

"Pardon..?"

"Emi," he said, "in your dream, what'd she say? What was her warning?"

Yuma opened his mouth but Erisu beat him to it. "I'm not telling you one word of her message." His eyes narrowed as he weighed her scrupulously. "You clearly have your own agenda, I can taste your conflicting intentions from here, so I'm not saying anything to you that might endanger Emi and Rūka any further."

"Endanger them?" He echoed and his face started to redden with anger. "They're my siblings too. Do you think I don't care about them at all?"

"I think you have a history of putting your sibling's safety aside when it interferes with mother's desires."

"Oh is _that_ what you think?" The tendons in his neck sharpened as he stepped closer still. "You think I didn't care about you? You think I wanted him to do that to you?"

"You sure seemed content in pretending it didn't happen," she shot back. "You were quick to suck up to him once he was back in the picture. You were so happy to have a father that you let him..." She swallowed her words like bile. "He broke our family."

"What he did was wrong, Erisu!" Yusha was red with fury now. "I'd be the first to admit it! But you shouldn't keep blaming him for a mistake he made! He repented, he's changed! You're the one tearing the family apart by not forgiving him!"

Erisu closed her eyes and took a deep breath to collect herself. Now wasn't the time to be airing their dirty laundry, especially in front of the others.

"Just answer me this," Yusha said, his voice a trembling attempt at calm, "say Rokurou was hanging from a cliff. Would you help him up, kick him down, or leave him there?"

Erisu raised her eyes to her brother's and felt the remainder of her compassion sizzle out. "How high is the cliff?"

" _What_?" His lips had gone white.

"In order to die on impact someone his size and weight would need to fall from no less than fifteen metres, preferably twenty or more for a higher death percentage. That's at least eight storeys, if you're measuring by buildings."

"It's a metaphor for whether you'd save him given the chance," Yusha said dangerously, "don't apply physics to it! Would you or would you not save his life?"

Erisu held his gaze. "I'd probably leave him," she said with cutting honesty, "although I might push him off, it depends on what he says to me I suppose."

The shock on her brother's face was evident and Erisu could feel it ripple through the bystanders as well. Apparently they'd all thought she'd save him, all except for...

"Of course she'd let him die," Kiyomi spoke up loudly. "Because she's smart enough to know that everyone would be better off without another lying, piece of shit pedophile roaming around unchecked! Her siblings would be safe, her mother would be free, and any other potential victims of his would no longer be at risk."

Yusha faced her with eyes like fire. "You're talking about murder! Killing a good man, a husband and a father! Could you really do that?!"

Kiyomi scoffed. " _Are you new_? Listen honey, the world would be better off without a scumbag like your stepdad, only an idiot can't see that."

"You don't even know him! He's sorry for what he did, he's trying to get better."

"I'm sorry." Kiyomi raised a hand to stop him talking. "You're telling me that molesting children is okay but eliminating a known pedo isn't? Are we surrounded by some sort of magnetic field cause your moral compass is _way_ off." She leaned in close to his face. " _The fucker deserves to die_. And if we get to your charming little village to find out he's been fondling your 'baby sister' I'll kill him myself."

* * *

 **火**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

 _Salutations and happy belated Valentine's Day!_

 _I just wanted to let you know that I recently made a DeviantART account and have posted some drawings for this story (as well as other pieces). Sota, Kakashi, and chibi Erisu have been uploaded so far. Check it out! there'll be more to come!_

gallery/ _(copy and paste into your browser)_

 _~All my love, Elle_


	52. Chapter 50: The Ripples Of Evil

**火**

* * *

 **CHAPTER** **FIFTY**

 _ **The Ripples Of Evil**_

* * *

 **~Erisu~**

* * *

A pensive gloom had settled over the team as they journeyed across the final stretch of farmland beneath a steadily rising sun. The outlaying fields were less maintained, some still flooded with murky water, their golden tendrils sagging limp and forgotten.  
The crops gave way to thickets of brambles and clutters of heather as Pakkun led the troupe along an overgrown, rarely trod path that wound away into the wood.  
The forest was devoid of wildlife. An eerie silence hung in the close air beneath the dense canopy and a whispering chill was sweeping down from the north. Above, the trees were in the full throws of autumn, their leaves like a ceiling of cold fire. It was a mirror of the chaos the night before, minus the warmth.  
Even Yusha understood the necessity of silence as they neared the rogues' encampment. They fell into single file, back in their original formation with Kakashi in the lead, their prisoner in the centre and the Hyūga bringing up the rear.  
Pakkun slowed as his fur began to bristle with anticipation. Kakashi slunk after him, nose to the wind, as the hound lead them to a thick crop of ferns.  
"Through there," Pakkun growled, inclining his head through the curling floral swords.  
Kakashi soundlessly parted the feathery fronds and the team peered down into a clearing of packed soil. A tilted boulder, strangled in moss, hung over half of the opening and a crude lean-to had been stacked against it. Beneath the poorly constructed shelter was a horde of supplies and a couple of beds of straw and moth-eaten blankets. Around a cooking fire at the heart of the clearing were huddled a dozen shapes trying to warm their bony hands.  
The figures were stiff and silent. None of them spoke as they sat, almost cowering in the chill of the wood. An unpleasant scent hung in the air, the mingled musk of body odour and the sour undertone of spoiling food. It looked more like a cluster of half-starved beggars than a gang of outlaws. It was hard to believe these people could stand, let alone control an entire village.  
Erisu wasn't sure what she'd been expecting the test subjects to look like but this surely wasn't it. She extended her mind to them as the rest of the team joined them to assess the targets.  
"O-sama..." She began as she detected something alarming.  
"I sense it too," Yuma said darkly behind her.  
"What's wrong with them?" Sota hissed nervously.  
Everyone could tell that there was something off about the rogues below, what though, they couldn't say.  
"Yamato," Kakashi said in a low voice, "you know the most about Orochimaru's experiments out of anyone here. Can you tell what's been done to them?"  
"I'm not sure." Yamato's voice was even more uptight than usual.  
Erisu turned her face back to the group of people below. They were cloaked, their faces lost in the heavy shadows of their hoods. It was difficult to make out any of their features clearly, but their hands... One of the figures opened a blackened pot that hung on a spit over the meagre flames and scooped out a bowlful of what looked like miso soup. The team seemed to have arrived in time for breakfast.  
"We should spread out," Kiyomi spoke up in a whisper. "We can easily kill them all from the surrounding trees while they're busy eating." She mimed a barrage of kunai. "Nice and quick. Then we can be on our way with little to no time wasted."  
" _What_?!" Yusha's voice raised dangerously high and Yamato hissed for silence. "What?" He repeated, quieter. "That's murder..!"  
She gave him a pitying look. "No shit."  
"We can't just kill them..!" Yusha insisted. "It's immoral..!"  
"Oh please, not this again." Kiyomi flicked open her kunai holster. "It's too early for a debate. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to do what I was trained for."  
"This is what's wrong with ninjas!"  
" _Shhh_!"  
"You're always so quick to kill when we could be talking it over with them..!"  
"I don't think we should kill them either," drawled Yuma.  
Yusha beamed. "Thank you! Finally a ninja with a moral compass!"  
"It's not our job and I don't want to waste any knives on them." Yuma added with a nasty smirk at Erisu's brother. "Let's just ignore them."  
"So they can keep extorting the village?" Kiyomi scoffed in disbelief. "Look at them..! They already look half dead as it is. Killing them would be a mercy to the villagers and the guinea pigs alike."  
"We should capture them," Yamato said grimly.  
"We can't be hauling a dozen lab rats through the Land of Iron," Kiyomi argued.  
"With my Wood Release we could trap them until we're done with the Cult and then collect them on our way back to Konoha."  
"What good would that do?" Sota wondered. "What information could they have?"  
"They must know the location of at least one of Orochimaru's hideouts," Yamato replied, "they could give us an idea as to how many other test subjects are still in the area and tell us where those scarecrows came from and if there are more of them lurking around somewhere."  
"What do you think, Kakashi-taichou?" Sota asked.  
Kakashi took a while to answer, his dark eye unreadable and fixed on the people in the clearing. "They might know something about Sasuke," he said at last. "They might be able to give us information on his new teammates as well."  
"So you agree that we should capture them, Sempai?"  
Kakashi didn't answer, his gaze still on the targets.  
"They won't know anything," Yuma said, "they're kept in confinement. It's not as if they were dinner guests at Orochimaru's table."  
"You haven't said anything yet, Imōto," Yusha piped up and Erisu could feel his eyes on her like green spotlights. "What does our local medical professional and expert on all things emotional think we should do?"  
Erisu's mind was racing and she couldn't help smiling as an idea occurred. "This is perfect," she whispered excitedly, ignoring the six other sets of eyes that had turned to her. "They're the solution..!"  
"What are you on about?" Yuma asked grudgingly.  
"The villagers are emaciated and lacking strong arms due to Orochimaru-sama's cruelty." She turned round to face Kakashi specifically. "I was feeling torn by our responsibility to the directive and my desire to strengthen the village. But if we could persuade the rogue test subjects to rebuild the village in our stead it'd not only help the people but also turn the rogues from crime..!"  
"Brilliant!" Sota exclaimed. "I vote for reform!"  
" _Shhh_!" Yamato hissed again.  
"That's ridiculous," Yuma said scathingly. "They've been extorting the villagers themselves, why would they suddenly help them? It's daft."  
"Sorry Erisu," Kiyomi paused as though her words were causing her pain, "but I agree with this tosspot. I can't see the lab rats having a change of heart."  
"There's something else..." Kakashi said darkly, his face inclined towards the clearing again. "Why haven't they collected last night's supplies yet?"  
Erisu hadn't considered this and as she followed his gaze back to the camp another thought arose. "Maybe they can't."  
"They do appear weak," Yamato caught on, "sickly even..."  
"Well, we haven't a clue as to what kind of horrors they endured during their captivity, nor what sort of side effects may have been caused by Orochimaru-sama's experiments," Erisu said as she peered analytically at the targets. "They could be very ill indeed for all we know." She glanced back at Kakashi, trying to guess his thoughts on the matter. "I'd like to meet with them. Talk to them, examine them."  
"And blow our cover?" Kiyomi's eyes produced sparks. "You can't be serious!"  
" _Shhh_!"  
"I might be able to convince them to aid the villagers," Erisu said more insistently, "and if I fail and they attack the rest of you can take them out from the safety of the trees."  
"That's so risky it's downright stupid," Yuma sneered.  
"It's dangerous," Sota agreed, "but Erisu is the most persuasive person I know. If there's a chance to change what side they're on..."  
"It's not our job to solve everyone's problems from Konoha to the fucking North!" Yuma snapped.  
" _Shhh_!"  
"Let's just kill them and get the hell out of here! I don't know about the rest of you darlings but I don't want to crouch in the woods for the rest of my life."  
"I won't stand by and let you murder..."  
Erisu had no ears for the rest of the team's bickering. "Kakashi-sama?" she queried, attention on Kakashi and Kakashi alone. "Can I please speak with them?"  
"Drop the 'sama', would you?" He sighed heavily and turned his dark grey eye to her at last. "Do you actually think you can persuade them to completely reverse their loyalties?"  
"We owe it to everyone to at least try."  
"Do you really trust them not to kill you on the spot?" He asked in an undertone.  
"I don't trust them at all," she replied, "but I trust _you_ implicitly."  
He held her gaze evenly and she could tell that behind his sleepy eye he was doing some very quick thinking.  
"Yuma," he said, his eye still on Erisu. "How many are there?"  
The dark haired man honed his Dōjutsu and scanned the clearing with his seemingly sightless eyes.  
"Thirteen," he replied after a moment, "twelve around the fire and one other beneath the lean-to."  
"Good!" Kiyomi said. "Two for each of us! Doggy-san can take out the Lean-To Target and Yusha doesn't get one cause he's afraid of getting a job done."  
" _'Doggy-san'_?" Pakkun growled.  
"A pair of kunai per person and they'll all be dead before you can say 'discombobulated debauchery'." She smiled in satisfaction.  
"Why the hell would anyone say that?" Yuma asked her coldly.  
"Because its fun to say," she said as though it were obvious.  
"Kakashi?" Erisu whispered so the others wouldn't hear. "You have to let me try."  
He continued to search her eyes for a few agonizingly long heartbeats.  
"Alright," he said at last. "You and Yamato will approach them while the rest of us keep watch, ready to intervene with non-lethal force." He turned to Yamato. "Anything suspicious and you bind them straight away, understand?"  
Yamato's jaw tightened but he voiced no complaints, only nodding. Kiyomi looked completely flabbergasted.  
"Kiyomi and Yuma flank them to the east," Kakashi instructed, "Yusha, you come west with me. Pakkun and Sota, stay here."  
"Woah there honey," Kiyomi said pointing at Kakashi as if he was pulling her leg. "I don't mean to undermine your authority but is _Reiketsu Kakashi_ really getting cold feet about killing a couple degenerates?" She was smiling as if this were all a prank. "I mean, you're actually going to issue orders to take them out, right?"  
But Kakashi didn't have to answer as Yuma did in his stead.  
"This is why you haven't been made captain of your own team, Kiyomi," he sad quietly and Erisu detected that he was actually sympathetic in regards to this fact. "You're too quick to kill. You killed Hiroki when he was the only one who could explain his betrayal and you're so keen to draw blood that you're willing to challenge a direct order from a superior."  
" _Excuse me_?" She puffed up like a blowfish and looked prepared to set him on fire. "I wasn't-you're just-I cant even-"  
"Your temper is going to get you in serious trouble one of these days," he told her.  
" _My_ temper?" Her fists crackled with fiery chakra. "Bitch please, you don't know the first thing about my temper!"  
"Oh come on." He looked at her almost pityingly. "You were itching to attack Yuki back at the hospital weren't you? Lucky Erisu intervened or Sota here might be short of a mother."  
In a flash of metal Kiyomi had drawn her kodachi and aimed a blow for Yuma's throat. There was a chiming of blade on blade as Kakashi blocked her with a kunai just in time.  
" _That's enough_ ," he said in a dangerous whisper. "From all of you." His cold eye slid from Kiyomi to Yuma and back again. "You're not a couple of academy brats, you're _Jōnin_. Act like it. Otherwise the Hokage might hear about your behaviour in my report."  
Kiyomi slowly withdrew her sword, eyes wide with fear, and wordlessly sheathed the blade. Yuma was perspiring, Byakugan pulsating. He'd clearly not expected her to attack him. Sota also appeared shaken, his black eyes flicking from one teammate to the other in shock.  
"After that unprecedented display..." Kakashi stowed away his knife but was still burning with vexation. "...I think Yuma should stay here with Pakkun instead and Sota can join Kiyomi on the east flank, since he's the only one I'm certain she won't murder."  
Kiyomi was simply staring at him as though afraid for her life.  
"Anyone else feel like dragging this little side quest out any longer than necessary?" Kakashi asked icily. "No? Good."  
"We'll be sure to move in at the first sign of danger," Sota murmured to Erisu reassuringly.  
"I'm not afraid," she told him honestly, "not when you guys have my back." She lowered her voice. "I know Hot-Blooded-Kiyomi wouldn't let them harm a hair on my head."  
He grinned sheepishly and glanced over at the tall woman anxiously. "Yeah. Hot blooded, hot headed.."  
"Hot bodied?" Erisu suggested.  
His eyes snapped back to hers in alarm. "Oh shut up."  
She giggled. "Don't worry about me though. I'll have Yamato-sempai with me."  
He clasped her on the shoulder and the team divided. Yamato was tense beside her, his dark possum eyes fixed below. Kiyomi was no longer seething, Kakashi's anger seemed to have doused her flames so to speak. She didn't blame her, he was terrifying when triggered.  
"Alright," Yamato said quietly as there came a glint of light reflected on metal from the east, "Kakashi-sempai is in place." After a brief interval there was another glimmer to the west. "And Kiyomi-san as well. Let's go."  
He lead the way down the slope and as the emerged from the undergrowth both he and Erisu raised their hands to show they meant no harm.  
"Good morning!" Erisu called, deftly moving ahead of her tense and anxious superior.  
The rogue closest to them lifted his head in alarm and Erisu nearly halted at the sight of his face.  
" _Oh no_..." Yamato murmured from just behind her.  
The glazed and sunken looking eyes of the escaped test subject were large and a sort of caramel colour as they settled on the approaching shinobi, but his features... He was no older than fourteen.  
"Wh-who are you?" he asked in a croaky voice that caused goosbumps to immediately spread over Erisu's skin. Those caramel eyes flickered over them vaguely, resting briefly on Yamato's head guard. "Ninjas..?"  
"I'm Erisu and this is my comrade, Yamato," she told the boy as the two of them neared the fire. "We're from Konoha."  
"Konoha..." he repeated though his face was blank as though he'd never heard of it. "What do you want?"  
"We happened upon you," Yamato said calmly though his eyes were sliding around the clearing with obvious unrest. "...thought we'd introduce ourselves."  
The boy scoffed derisively; he wasn't fooled.  
"What might we call you?" Erisu asked politely though she couldn't help but notice that the other shapes had barely even reacted to their arrival, some seemed completely unaware of their presence.  
He was still eyeing her distrustfully but said, "Haru."  
"It's a pleasure to make you acquaintance, Haru-san," Erisu edged even closer. She could now make out that his lips were chapped and puffy purple circles surrounded his eyes. "Might we join you? It's very chilly today and we've been on the road for some time."  
Haru wrapped his arms around himself, tugging his cloak tight as if trying to shield himself from harm. He gave her the shortest of nods. Erisu led the way to the fireside and lowered herself onto a lichen covered log, aware of Haru's eyes trailing over her kunai holster and the chainmail visible at the neck of her kimono. She self consciously adjusted Kakashi's scarf.  
Yamato sank onto the log beside her and a girl sitting next to Haru glanced up at them warily. She looked to be only about twelve years old and her pallid face was framed by two curtains of lank black hair.  
"This is Sara-chan," Haru told them nodding towards the tiny girl who mumbled a greeting that was barely audible.  
"Good morning," Erisu greeted her kindly, "are you alright? Only you look a bit under the weather..."  
Sara recoiled with increasing caution.  
"It's alright," Erisu said softly, "I'm a healer. If you're unwell I might be able to help."  
Haru looked at her with renewed interest. "You're a doctor?"  
"A medical ninja," she specified with a small smile. "I spent some time working in the emergency trauma ward in my village's hospital so I've seen and treated a wide variety of injuries and ailments."  
Haru and Sara exchanged a meaningful look and Erisu detected a flicker of hope emanate from them both.  
"Are you in need of medicine?" Erisu asked kindly.  
"If you're _really_ a healer..." Sara began in a small voice that sounded very similar to the raspy mewl of a kitten.  
"It sounds too good to be true," Haru interjected, his eyes narrowed again with distrust. "How exactly did you find us?"  
Erisu could feel Yamato prickling uneasily beside her but she knew the only way to earn their trust was through honesty.  
"The truth is we were in the nearby village," she told them, careful to keep her voice free of blame, "a kindly old man told us about your arrangement at the shrine to Ojizō-sama..."  
Sara's face drained of what little colour it had and Haru tried to straighten up defensively but he quickly slumped forward again clutching his abdomen.  
"It's alright," Erisu reassured them again, "we've just stopped by to ask for your side of the story." She glanced over at the lean-to where the supplies from the village had been stacked haphazardly. "You've been requesting food?"  
"We were _starving_!" Haru said in justification, his voice hoarse and strained. "We'd just escaped and-" he cut himself off with a look that he'd said too much.  
"Don't worry, we already know where you were before." She reached out and though he recoiled initially, Haru let her touch his hand. "There's no shame in what happened to you, I hope you know that. It wasn't your fault."  
"But..." Haru searched her face. "The things we did while we were with him..."  
"You need to rise above that," Yamato said unexpectedly. "You don't need to be defined by what he did to you or what he made you into."  
Erisu turned to her comrade and saw a haunted look in his eyes.  
"You..." Haru was staring at him as though transfixed. "...He did it to you too, didn't he..?"  
Sara was gazing intently at Yamato as well and another boy peered out from under his heavy hood, keen to hear the shinobi's response.  
"He kidnapped me as a small child," Yamato told them in a voice so low it wouldn't carry to where the rest of the team members were stationed. "I don't know who my parents were or what they named me. My earliest memories are of the experiments he did on me. When he was discovered he left me and the other children behind and fled, believing us to have died from the tests." He paused and Erisu could tell that he'd rarely spoken of this to anyone. "I alone survived and was taken in by Konoha but even after-"  
"They still saw you as a weapon," Haru finished for him, his caramel eyes steady and knowing. "I never really thought that there were others but of course there were..." He coughed raggedly and wiped some sweat from his brow with the back of his shaking hand.  
"He took us as children too," Sara whispered. "I remember my mother screaming when they came for us..."  
"Can you recall where he took you from?" Erisu asked her as gently as possible.  
"Of course." Sara met her gaze and Erisu could feel every ounce of the girl's loneliness and fear. "That's why we came back as soon as we escaped."  
"You don't mean...?"  
"Yeah." Haru let out another harsh and painful sounding cough. "The village you just came from is our birthplace."  
"You're the lost children that have been mourned at the shrine?" Erisu asked in a whisper. "Why are you extorting your own families?"  
"You have to understand," Haru pleaded weakly, "when Orochimaru-sama died his servants scattered and left us in our cages. There was no one there to feed us, _we were starving_... We managed to pick the lock to our cell with a splinter of bone and escaped. But we were too scared to go back to the village..."  
"He turned us into monsters," Sara said faintly. "We couldn't let them see what we'd become, or tell them what we'd done..."  
"So what then?" Yamato wondered. "You decided to threaten them instead? Release legions of the undead upon them every night?"  
"The scarecrows weren't sent by us," Haru said fervently and he was wracked by another bout of coughing. "We just pretended they were so that the people would fear us. They were just leftovers from Kabuto-san's experiments."  
"Kabuto..." Yamato's eyes stretched wide. Clearly that name meant something to him. "You met Kabuto? You spoke to him?"  
Sara looked more uneasy than ever. "He was the one who did all the tests. I always thought he seemed so nice..."  
"What about Sasuke?" Yamato asked with urgency. "Did you ever meet a dark haired boy, just a bit older than you, who was being trained by Orochimaru?"  
Sara and Haru looked at each other for a long moment before Haru said, "he used to come to the hideout sometimes, he'd make us fight him..."  
" _His eyes_..." Sara whispered before she doubled up with a fit of coughing herself. That was all she needed to say for them to know that she had really seen the Uchiha boy.  
"The hideout..." Yamato quickly produced a map from his utility pouch. "Can you mark it on this map?"  
Haru considered him for a moment. "Why?"  
"We want to make sure that what happened to you won't happen again," Erisu told him. "And we ourselves are looking for a child that was taken from us by Orochimaru-sama."  
The boy continued to weigh them carefully with his caramel eyes before nodding slowly. "I think I can," he said at last. "Let me see the map."  
Yamato handed it over with bated breath and they watched in silence as Haru traced the paper with a trembling hand. Then he tapped a spot several leagues west of the village.  
"It's around here," he told them and Erisu noted that his voice seemed to be getting even weaker. "The entrance is pretty close to an abandoned grain silo." As he handed the map back, Yamato marked the spot promptly and then carefully stowed the parchment away.  
"Thank you, Haru-san," Erisu murmured. "That could help a lot of people."  
"I just betrayed Orochimaru-sama," Haru said uncomfortably. "Even after everything..." Sara rested her head against his shoulder comfortingly. "After all the tests and all the things that we were told to do to demonstrate our powers..." he trailed off and mopped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.  
"The things that happened to you and the things he made you do don't have to be what defines you," Erisu told them firmly. "Like Yamato-sempai said: you can rise above it."  
"But how?" Haru asked desperately. "How can we change? what can we do to make up for the terrible stuff that we..." He had to cut himself off as he started hacking into his hand again.  
"Go home," she said softly once his coughs had subsided. "Instead of blackmailing the village into feeding you, move back and help them rebuild. Put your past behind you and start again. If it's too hard to tell them who you are then don't. That can wait until you're ready. Instead of tearing people down the way Orochimaru-sama does you can help them grow and flourish. Break the cycle of abuse and do better than those before you."  
Haru stared deep into her eyes, and whatever he was searching for he seemed to have found it.  
"Just like that..?"  
"Just like that," she confirmed. "I believe that you and the others can make this world a better place, Haru. All you have to do is try."  
Sara was looking at Yamato. "Is she right, sir?" The lank haired girl asked in a quavering voice. "Is it possible to be good even after... after what happened?"  
Yamato held her gaze. "It is." His voice was low but certain. "For a long time I let myself be an object that carried out the will of others. What else did I know? But I found my centre, and now I work tirelessly everyday to serve the village that saved me and make it stronger and more righteous than before. There's always a chance to change."  
Sara seemed convinced.  
" _We could go home_..." She whispered, turning to Haru hopefully. "We can eat properly cooked meals instead of bland miso and that spoiled rice. Imagine... Barbeque pork fresh off the grill."  
Haru chuckled weakly. "I don't know how you can even think about food, Sara-chan," he said. "I'm still feeling sick from breakfast."  
Erisu suddenly felt a prickle of unease as she realized the emotions around her seemed to be fading. There was an unpleasant retching noise coming from the rogue laying beneath the lean-to.  
"Haru-san," she said as her gaze swept around the circle of huddled teens, "what kind of sickness do you have?"  
"Some kind of flu," he said vaguely. "We've all been puking and shaking. And Asahi was having difficulty breathing last night."  
Erisu eyed the boy that Haru had indicated was Asahi and felt her heart starting to accelerate.  
"Have you been having any headaches or tremors?" she asked as her eyes flicked back to Haru. She spotted his hands trembling. "Seizures?" She hesitated. "...casualties?"  
"Yeah... all of that." Haru told her in a small voice. "Some of the younger kids didn't make it. Ryuu-kun..."  
"Erisu-san, what is it" Yamato asked in a low voice beside her but she didn't have enough information yet to answer.  
Haru was squinting his eyes against the light of the dim fire as if it were a blazing bonfire. Beside him, Sara got unsteadily to her feet.  
"Where are you going?" Yamato demanded tensely.  
"I need to puke," she answered shortly. Stumbling away to the edge of the glade, the girl doubled over and retched loudly.  
"How long has this flu lasted?" Erisu asked Haru softly and his bleary eyes raised to hers with some difficulty.  
Struggling to maintain focus on her he said in that chillingly strained voice, "pretty much as long as we've been free." He looked over at the hunched boy across the fire from him. "Isn't that right, Asahi?"  
Asahi didn't respond, his head bowed and face lost beneath the folds of his hood. Haru's brows knitted nervously.  
" _Asahi_?" He repeated a bit louder.  
Yamato and Erisu exchanged an uneasy look and Yamato cautiously approached the huddled figure. He gently reached out with his gloved hand and pulled back the boy's hood. Haru let out a strangled cry as Erisu met the glazed, dead eyes of the boy. His youthful face was already drained of colour and his skin was pasty and damp with perspiration. A stream of red tinged foam was drying around his mouth and chin.  
Haru stumbled over to the Asahi and shook him desperately but it was no use. Yamato looked around the circle and worked his jaw agitatedly. Following his surveying gaze Erisu saw that the other kids barely had enough energy to register that their friend was dead. Yamato's fists kept clenching and unclenching as yet another of the rogues keeled over and hurled all over their own feet. She could tell Yamato wanted to call the whole thing off.  
Suddenly possessed by a hypothesis, Erisu opened the smoky pots hanging over the dying fire. One contained the watery looking miso she'd noticed them drinking but the other was full of the rice they'd apparently been eating before the team had arrived. Steam issued from the pot and she wafted the fumes towards her. One deep inhale told her everything she needed to know and she quickly slammed the pot shut and pulled her scarf up to cover her nose and mouth. She elbowed Yamato and he covered his face with a handkerchief, eyeing her in confused concern.  
"What is it?" He asked her quietly, leaning in close so the others wouldn't overhear.  
"Poison," she hissed back, "their food is full of pesticides. That's why Sara thought it'd turned. They must've tasted the binding agent."  
"Pesticides?" He echoed with a glance back at the unmoving form of Asahi who's hair was plastered to his chalky face with sweat. "Pesticides did that?"  
"They're manufactured to kill," she said. "At high enough concentrations they can do the same to humans as they do to locusts and rats."  
Just then another boy suddenly fell to the ground, frothing at the mouth. She rushed over to the convulsing boy and turned him onto his side to keep him from choking on his vomit. But her stomach was dropping as she realized that not only was the boy showing signs of neural degradation but that he was also experiencing Hypercapnic respiratory failure. She had neither the equipment nor the experience to deal with a poisoning of this scale...  
Yamato was staring around in shock and horror as more of the rogues started to gag, cough, and wheeze more severely.  
"Which is?" He asked as though he didn't want to know the answer.  
"In this case..." she looked up sharply just as Sara collapsed into the puddle of her own stomach contents. "...destroy the nervous system and rupture the internal organs, particularly the lungs." She was trembling as the fear of every kid washed over her in a terrible wave. "I need Yuma-sempai's help!'  
" _Yuma-san_!" Yamato bellowed, causing Haru to stare up at them in terror.  
"What's happening?" he cried. "We can't lose anymore! I can't..." he choked and gagged. Erisu was so distraught she barely noticed that the boy she was holding was already dead.  
"... _you must have_ -" Haru had started to shake uncontrollably. "- _must have medicine_ -" he dry heaved, sweating even more profusely, and reached for a jug of water but Erisu quickly kicked it out of his reach.  
Missing the jug, Haru slumped onto the leaf strewn ground and stared up at Erisu with bloodshot eyes. She hurried over to him, dropped to her knees and, still covering her face, gave him her own canteen of uncontaminated water. While he drank she administered medical ninjutsu and took his pulse. Panic was rising in her chest as she realized the inevitable. The neurotoxin had ruptured the capillaries and air sacs in his lungs. Without proper treatment...  
"Haru," she said hastily as she rummaged through her med-kit with increasing urgency. But to her mounting hysteria she realized she was out of atropine. "Haru!" she said again as he vomited up the water, now mingled with blood. He was haemorrhaging.  
She turned her wide eyes on Yamato who was still staring around with the cloth pressed tightly over his face. Yuma and Pakkun were dashing over to them, Yuma's hands already glowing with healing chakra.  
"What's going on?" He demanded. "What's happened to them?"  
"Pesticides in their food," Yamato explained rapidly, "the villagers seem to have tried to take things into their own hands."  
"And warfarin," Erisu added as Haru vomited more blood. "There's anticoagulants in it too- _rat poison_ -he's bleeding internally!"  
"Erisu-san," Yamato said as a girl keeled over, falling face first into the fire and knocking the poisoned rice everywhere. "Do something! An antidote?"  
The miso splashed over the blackened logs and there was a loud hiss of steam as the fire went out.  
"But Yamato-sempai," she managed through a sob of helplessness, "I don't have any left! I need a concentration of Vitamin K to stop the effects of the warfarin, which isn't the sort of thing one generally keeps for first aid, he's lost so much blood that he's going to need a transfusion, and without knowing what kind of pesticide..."  
"You mean-" he had heaved the girl out of the embers but only to realize she too was dead, her turquoise eyes gazing blankly at the sky and a thin stream of pinkish foam trickling from her mouth. Her pale pink hair was faded and brittle as straw as Yamato lowered her to the ground. She looked uncannily akin to Sakura. "-these kids..." he stared at the girl and his dark eyes were swimming with disbelief. "...they're all going to die?"  
Beside him Yuma and Pakkun could only look on in shock.  
"It's what we deserve," Haru gurgled, foaming at the mouth. "We let ourselves be tools, weapons. Even after Orochimaru-sama was gone-" He dry heaved again and drew a rattling, agonized breath "-we still kept doing evil in his name. _Terrorizing our own village_..."  
Erisu shook her head and tried to find words to console him but there was nothing she could say. Instead it was Yamato who spoke.  
"We'll make sure your bodies are returned to your village," he said faintly, "you'll be buried by your families at least."  
"No parent should have to bury their child." Haru gagged. "We should have gone back to them long ago... should've made amends..."  
"They'll know that you wanted to," Erisu whispered as Haru slumped against her, seizing and coughing. "What were your names..?"  
Haru's head dropped into her lap as blood started to ooze from his nose. "Asahi," he whispered, "Touma, Ikari, Ichika, Kaito..." He coughed again and more sudsy blood issued from his mouth, spattering the front of Erisu's kimono. "...Itsuki, Ryusei, Yui, Reo, Takumi..." Tears started leaking from his eyes but Erisu held his gaze, seeing her own half-concealed face reflected in his caramel irises. "... _Sara_."  
"And Haru," she finished for him gently as his expression went blank. The last thrashing youth stilled a few feet away and Erisu bowed her head in defeat. All thirteen of them... every one of the lost children... they were all dead at the hands of their unknowing village.

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 **火**


	53. Chapter 51: Kira Kira Hikaru

**火**

* * *

 **CHAPTER** **FIFTY-ONE**

 _ **Kira Kira Hikaru**_

* * *

 **~Kakashi~**

* * *

If he was being honest with himself Kakashi hadn't expected Erisu to succeed, but for it to have turned out so tragically... What had even gone wrong? He could only make out so much from his perch in the branches but from what he could see...  
Prodding Yusha in the back to make him move, Kakashi shepherded him down the slope to where Erisu was slumped over the dead body of one of the rogues. As they neared Kakashi saw why she was so distraught. They were mere children, younger than Naruto, and all of them were dead.  
Leaving Yusha at the edge of the clearing, he strode quickly over to her. With Tenzō present he was forced to refrain from embracing her but every cell in his body was determined to comfort her all the same.  
"O-sama," she said rather dazedly as she looked up at him with wide watery eyes. "I couldn't save them..."  
"We weren't prepared for this," Tenzō said to her, his expression very closed. "No one told us that the food was tainted."  
"Tainted?" Kakashi repeated as he knelt beside Erisu and gently shifted the corpse of a boy from her lap. "Are you telling me the villagers poisoned these children?"  
"Yes, the rice seems to have been mixed with pesticides," Tenzō explained.  
"The cause of death in most of these cases seems to have been respiratory failure," Erisu told Kakashi as he helped her to her feet. "Stroke may have killed some of them as well..." She shook her head. "...and when we'd just won them over."  
Kakashi looked down at Erisu as she let her head fall against his chest.  
"You mean they'd agreed to assist the villagers?" He asked, trying to keep the surprise from his voice.  
"They were just kids, Sempai," Tenzō murmured, his eyes drifting over the lifeless forms scattered around the distinguished campfire. "They were just trying to find a way to survive after Orochimaru's death."  
Yuma had appeared at Kakashi's elbow and for once didn't look like there was something foul under his nose. He seemed properly upset in fact.  
"We should get the bodies ready for transport," the Hyūga said to Tenzō. "Pakkun has agreed to take a message back to the village along with the list of names that boy gave us."  
Kakashi was getting an idea as to the identities of the teens now. "They're from the village," he guessed aloud, "the missing children."  
Tenzō nodded grimly and Kakashi hung his head. His masked face brushed the top of Erisu's hair and he had an almost overpowering desire to just bury his face in the sugary down. Instead he carefully slipped away from her and turned to Pakkun.  
"You're fine with being the messenger?" He asked the hound.  
"Yeah." The pugs droopy eyes kept glancing up at Erisu worriedly. "Their village should know what happened."  
Kakashi realized in that moment that he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept. When had they gotten drawn into this mess? Why were they even in this clearing? But they'd be out of the country by nightfall if they got this situation under control quickly enough.  
Looking around, he noticed that Kiyomi and Sota hadn't emerged from the woods yet and started towards the trees but Erisu brushed her fingers across his making him pause. She was quickly regaining her composure as she looked past him to where Yusha was loitering.  
"We need to get everyone on the same page," she murmured conspiratorially. "I can talk to Kiyomi-san about her outburst earlier but I was hoping you would speak to Yuma-sempai."  
That was pretty much the last thing Kakashi wanted to do.  
"I'm Team Captain not Team Counsellor," he pointed out, casting an eye towards Yuma who was carrying the limp body of a preteen girl. "They should know better than to pick fights with their comrades. Especially Yuma and Kiyomi, considering their ranks."  
"You're right of course." She followed his gaze and he noted that her demeanour had altered into that of complete professionalism. "Maybe they'll sort it out on their own."  
Despite his disinterest in babysitting a bunch of adults, Kakashi was privately curious as to why Kiyomi had snapped in the first place. Yuma had always been an egotistical bully but Kakashi had expected him to have at least a basic concept of maturity. And though he'd realized Kiyomi was a bit hot-headed from their first meeting he was frankly chagrined that she'd actually drew her sword on Yuma... while they were gearing for a fight with an unknown enemy no less. That kind of behaviour was genuinely embarrassing to him as their superior.  
"I'm about to fill Sota and Kiyomi in on what has transpired now," Kakashi said to Erisu, "I'll have a quick word with them about maintaining healthy relationships with their colleagues." He paused. "Well, less antagonistic relations anyways. Teamwork is vital if we are to succeed." And not murdering each other was of course essential if he wanted to get the whole team back to Konoha.  
Erisu looked as though there was something she wanted to say but she seemed to have decided not to. He wasn't going to let her keep anything to herself anymore. Honesty was the most important thing now.  
"Something else on your mind?" He queried. She could sense that he wasn't going to take no for an answer as she looked up at him almost cautiously.  
She glanced over at Tenzō who was shifting the dead boy by the fire. "Is Yamato-sempai going to be alright?"  
Kakashi guessed why she was asking. He must have let on about his past and how he came to possess the rare Wood Release.  
"He'll be fine," Kakashi assured her. "He's made of sterner stuff than most." He searched her face for a moment then added in a softer tone, "are _you_ going to be alright?"  
"Yes." Her gaze drifted past him to the many bodies still laying about. "I'm just concerned about what the fate of the Body will be, the ones leftover after Aya and her husband are dealt with..."  
Her solicitous nature could very well be her downfall, he thought to himself. Her humanity was both her greatest strength and her most dangerous weakness.  
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he told her sternly. "No amount of worrying will change the future."  
Her eyes met his again and he knew she'd understood that he was issuing an indirect order.  
"Yes sir," Erisu said formally, "right you are."  
Kakashi forced his eye into a reassuring smile but they were both aware that it was superficial. Very discretely, he dared to place his hand on her waist.  
"I need to go brief the others," he told her, "you assist Yamato in cleaning up, alright?"  
There was blood and what looked like foamy saliva on the front of her dress and her hands were slightly tinged with red as she placed them on his chest.  
"Anything you say, O-sama," she said softly.  
"Enough with the 'sama'," he told her sternly, "call me Kakashi."  
Her eyes sparkled with faint amusement. "As you command, Kakashi, sir."  
He scoffed and cuffed her untameable hair playfully. "Whatever, Risu." He released her waist and started towards the trees. "Just help Yamato, okay?"  
She offered him a weak smile and joined the others as Kakashi swept away to the east side of the clearing. As long as Erisu didn't let this ordeal break her everything should be alright.  
Please don't let it break her.  
" _Kakashi_!" Yusha was striding across the clearing with far more confidence than a prisoner should rightfully convey.  
Kakashi halted and closed his eyes to contain his annoyance. What could Yusha possibly want now?  
"What are your intentions with my little sister?"  
Kakashi stared at him. "What?"  
"You heard me!" Yusha was red-faced, but whether from anger or embarrassment Kakashi couldn't tell. "I saw you just now, whispering together, giving each other misty-eyed looks."  
Of course he'd been spying on them. It was just sort of the conniving thing he'd do, as was assuming they'd been discussing less wholesome things.  
"It may have escaped your notice but thirteen kids just died," Kakashi said with a deliberate lack of tact, "in your little sister's arms no less. But I doubt you'd entertain the possibility that I was comforting her.  
"Obviously you were comforting her," Yusha said irritably, "but a guy only takes time to comfort an emotional wreck like her if they think they'll get something out of it."  
Kakashi could've collapsed under the weight of Yusha's ignorance.  
"I want to know what your angle is. What are you after?"  
Kakashi opted for giving him a hard look. "I don't think that's really any of your concern, given the circumstances. Do you?"  
"Do you love her?" Yusha's pale green eyes were intense.  
The sudden demand struck Kakashi mute. To ask such a personal question, especially now while they were organizing the dead, it was audacious.  
Yusha had lost his patience, if he ever had any to start with. "I asked you whether you love my sister or not!"  
"She's my student," Kakashi told him stiffly. "My ward."  
"Oh is that all?" The telepath folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "I've never heard of a teacher crossing the continent to save their pupil before."  
"She's a... special case."  
"I bet she is."  
The two men gazed at each other as the tension around them built up steadily.  
Yusha broke the uncomfortable silence. "How did you meet her?"  
"That's a tricky one," Kakashi said evasively but Yusha wasn't satisfied.  
"Tricky?" He echoed. "Tricky how?"  
"We met first during the Nine Tail's Attack but weren't acquainted until she returned to the village in the spring of this year." He fixed the younger man with a cold grey eye. "Why?"  
"How'd you become acquainted?" Yusha pressed.  
" _Why_?" Kakashi said again with more insistence.  
"I want to know how a celebrity murderer like you got his claws in my sweet little sister that's why!"  
Kakashi blinked. "'Celebrity Murderer'?"  
"C'mon, that's a perfect description," said Yusha with a grin that said he was far too proud of himself for coming up with it. "High Ranked Ninjas like you are famous for how good they are at killing people right? You weren't nicknamed 'Cold-Blooded Kakashi' for your incomparable compassion, were you? So..." He flourished his hands as if presenting a top of the line product. "Celebrity Murderer. It fits you to a T."  
After the big deal Yusha had made about Kiyomi's suggestion to kill the test subjects it didn't make sense that he could be so buoyant and unruffled by the sudden deaths of the kids. And now he was demanding to know the specifics of Kakashi and Erisu's relationship... Where had this even come from? Why did Yusha suddenly give a damn at all?  
Kakashi held Yusha's gaze until his smile faded and his mouth set into a stubborn line. Obviously the kid wasn't going to leave him alone without some sort of an explanation.  
"We met in the forest."  
The uncomfortable silence resumed and Yusha raised his brows expectantly.  
"And?"  
"And Erisu administered a life saving antidote to me after I was poisoned in combat and then performed a Chakra Transference Jutsu which allowed me to call for backup."  
Yusha puckered his lips as he thought that over, annoyingly similar to Erisu.  
"So you were killing someone and got yourself poisoned. She showed up and healed you." He scratched his stubbly jaw. "Huh. I could've guessed that."  
"Are we done now?" Kakashi tried to head back towards the forest but Yusha intercepted him.  
"No. We're not _'done'_." He scoffed. "God you're impatient. What happened next?"  
"Excuse me?"  
Yusha leaned in, outlandishly close, with his lip curled like a wild dog.  
"How did my sis go from being some random-woodland-healer-lady to being the handpicked student of the famous Hero of the Sharingan?"  
Kakashi held his gaze. "I asked the Hokage to make her my student."  
"What?" Yusha was genuinely surprised. "Why? Aren't you like the most powerful ninja in the village apart from the Sannin? Why would you be interested in an academy dropout like her?"  
Kakashi shrugged. "She intrigued me."  
"Intrigued you?" Yusha didn't believe him whatsoever.  
"Yeah."  
"Really?"  
Kakashi's patience had run out. "What do you want, Yusha?"  
"I want to figure out what the weird masked dude shadowing my sis everywhere is all about. What do you like about her?"  
"Plenty."  
"Specifically?"  
Kakashi turned around to spot Erisu and Yuma laying out the corpses in a neat row. "I have a mission to captain," he said quietly as Erisu closed the eyes of one of the dead, "so if you'll excuse me..."  
"You know it's weird," Yusha said loudly from behind him, "it's been a while since I had to do the 'Scary Big Brother Intimidation Shtick'."  
Kakashi didn't even spare him a glance. "Is _that_ what this is supposed to be?"  
"Last time it was aimed at a girl not a guy," Yusha told him in an offhand sort of voice, "I guess Erisu's sexual preference is as fickle as her religious beliefs."  
Kakashi didn't reply, his eye still on Erisu who was now draping the bodies in their blankets as tenderly as she would if they were her friends.  
"Yeah, that's right." He could hear the malicious grin in Yusha's voice. "She was _really_ into that Miwa girl. If you can even call her a girl considering how much of a butch she was. You know the type: short hair, flat chest, temperamental tomboy. She might've been passably cute if she wasn't trying so hard to look like a dude all the time. There were even rumours she was talking about getting a sex change. But I guess Erisu had a liking for that crazy little red-head and her less than effeminate inclinations. I guess you could call it _fag_ netic attraction? Or maybe the carpets just matched the drapes. Erisu has always been OCD about colour schemes and I'm sure the décor choices downstairs would've made her more keen to eat that ginger's hot pocket."  
"If only you'd been so gossipy when I was interrogating you," said Kakashi in boredom. "Goodbye, Yusha."  
"Hey!" Yusha slung his arm around Kakashi's shoulders, jerking him to a standstill, and spoke infuriatingly close to his ear. "That's not a problem for you is it? Knowing she's been a bit bicurious and had some lezzy leanings in the past? Cause if you're a homophobe I don't think that would bode well with my lil sis seeing as she's about as left wing and liberal as it gets."  
"I don't have any problems with homosexuality and if she-"  
Yusha howled with laughter causing the others to glance over reproachfully. Kakashi controlled himself by reasoning that assaulting Yusha would only be a temporary gain and would be more than likely to upset Erisu. But hell, if he wasn't sick of all this childish behaviour.  
"Geez!" Yusha hooted. "Someone has issues talking about sex!" He spluttered with more laughter. "I mean look at your face!"  
Kakashi merely cast him a withering look.  
"Well..." Yusha examined him closely, smile fading slightly. "Your _eye_ , I mean, since your face is-uh-hidden."  
"Can I go now?" Kakashi tried to pull away but Yusha's grip only tightened and even though Kakashi could've easily escaped he didn't want to make a scene while Erisu and Tenzō were still rigid with shock and grief only a few metres away.  
"Has Erisu ever seen your face?" Yusha asked him conversationally. "I guess she must have in order to get those marks all over her neck and chest."  
Kakashi tensed, his eye snapping back over to where Erisu was talking with Tenzō and saw, to his alarm, that hickies were visible on her pale throat from their brief time alone at the inn.  
"Huh?" Yusha followed his gaze and his smile broadened wickedly. "Oh yeah. Did you think that scarf would hide them?" He scoffed. "It's like you're completely inexperienced in this whole 'Secret-Romance-Thing'."  
Kakashi said nothing but Yusha seemed to read his thoughts.  
" _Seriously_?!" He gaped at the older man in astonishment. "Wow. Just wow. How many sexual relationships have you had before my sister?"  
"That's really none of your business," Kakashi replied flatly.  
Yusha craned his neck to get close to his ear again. "Are you a virgin?"  
Kakashi jerked free of Yusha's hold and faced him with forced composure.  
"Are you an immature pest who doesn't know how to respect people's privacy?"  
He knew that Yusha was only bold enough to harass him because he knew Kakashi was too wise not to assault him.  
"Come on man!" Yusha was grinning again. "How old _are_ *you?"  
Kakashi held his gaze and forced an air of disregard into his voice. "Almost thirty."  
Yusha's grin vanished and an uncharacteristic seriousness tightened his features.  
"You're ten years older than Erisu?" He asked quietly.  
Without responding Kakashi returned his attention to where Tenzō was now issuing orders in his stead. He needed to detach himself from Yusha and get back to work.  
"I knew you were older but..." Yusha seemed to be struggling to keep anger from his voice. "... _an entire decade_?"  
"That makes the age gap sound a lot more substantial than it really is," Kakashi said edgily.  
"It IS a pretty severe gap!" Yusha snapped, his face reddening again.  
Kakashi swept his eye over him appraisingly. "Not really."  
"Um hello?" Yusha's spine was stiff and his fists clenched. "When she was being born you were already a qualified killer! While she was learning how to read you were a fucking assassin! By the time she was enrolling in the academy for the first time you were probably jerking off to porn!"  
Kakashi stifled a sigh. "Can you even go thirty seconds without being vulgar?"  
"Why the hell can't you date women your age?" Yusha demanded. "There have to be plenty of hot bitches who want a piece of The Copy Ninja. A badass Jōnin maybe, another teacher, or some sophisticated doctor? I mean-why the hell did you have to target my sister?!"  
"I didn't 'target' her," Kakashi said coolly, trying to fathom how Yusha was getting protective about the consensual relationship between himself and Erisu but hadn't cared when Rokurou had preyed on her while she was a child. "You're blowing this completely out of proportion."  
But Yusha now had a look of deep thought on his face.  
"...Unless..." His pale eyes narrowed to slits. "Unless you're such a perv that no woman your age would be stupid enough to touch you with a ten foot pole. When a thirty-year-old dude is going after his teenaged students there's definitely some fucked up shit in his head."  
"She's not a teenager."  
"She's nine-TEEN," Yusha snarled, "that is _literally_ a teenager."  
Kakashi ran his hand through his hair and supressed another sigh.  
"Okay." Yusha planted his hands on his hips and eyed Kakashi in a weirdly paternal manner. "Let me give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you genuinely love her and not in the creepy obsessive way that pervy old dudes do. Maybe you realized that Erisu is incredibly mature for her age, what with her moving out at fifteen, designing complex techniques, performing surgeries and shit, and you actually do want to be with her in a serious monogamous relationship with the end goal being marriage."  
Kakashi blinked slowly. "Marriage..?" That word carried more responsibility with it than the title of Kage.  
" _Maybe_ that's the case," he said in such a way that clearly stated he didn't believe it in the slightest. "But if so, do you realize what that means for her?"  
Kakashi hesitated. Where was he going with this?  
"She misses out on the free-spirited party phase of her youth and the freedom to date people her own age," Yusha told him darkly. "She won't get the opportunity to do all that crazy shit that people do in their early twenties."  
"Like what?" Kakashi asked sardonically. "Bathing in a public fountain?"  
"Exactly!" He waved his hands expressively and Kakashi subtly back-stepped to avoid his flailing arms. "She needs to get drunk and live it up a few times before pledging herself to the old Ball-n-Chain of married life."  
Kakashi was growing increasingly uncomfortable. "I never said I was going to marry her," he said quietly, "and I certainly wouldn't force her to-"  
"So what then?" Yusha interrupted. "You're just going to fuck her while it's convenient?"  
" _Ugh_." This was getting nowhere. "Yusha-"  
"Erisu really is a creep magnet."  
"I'm not a creep-" He cut himself off and closed his eye to compose himself. "You know what? I'm done with this conversation." He started back towards the others but Yusha wouldn't let it be.  
"You're being selfish," he called after him.  
Kakashi looked over his shoulder and gave him a cold eye-smile. "If by 'selfish' you mean not having enough patience to be insulted by a criminal then yes, I'm selfish."  
"She's already going to have a dangerous life as a ninja without you dragging her into the middle of your war!"  
Kakashi stopped mid-step and looked Yusha full in the face. "What are you talking about?"  
"Those dudes in the cloaks," Yusha said slyly, knowing he'd struck a cord. "There's rumours all over that they're targeting the jinchūriki."  
Kakashi narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What are you on about?"  
"They kidnapped the Kazekage," said Yusha, "everyone was talking about it. And other demons have been going missing all over the place. It's all hushed up but you'd be surprised what shinobi will talk about once they've had a few shots and a couple of my herbs."  
"What does that have to do with me?" Kakashi was really irked now. If Yusha had put it together and told The Body...  
"I was nine when the Demon Fox attacked," he said owlishly, "and my mother never kept anything from me. She had a brother and father in the Interrogation Task Force. She heard things, things a bit more reliable than rumours and gossip. Things about a certain blond haired boy..."  
"The Third made all shinobi vow to secrecy," said Kakashi severely. "You couldn't possibly-"  
"The Akatsuki are after Uzamaki Naruto," Yusha stated, "that makes you a target as well, being his sensei. And if it got out that you had a pressure point in the form of a sickly girl with a very trusting nature..."  
"Are you threatening me?" Kakashi's whole body was now poised for a fight.  
Yusha smiled wanly. "Not at all. In fact I'm beseeching you, so to speak, from a point of shared concern." His sage green eyes flashed with that unpredictable mania. "I don't want my little sis being kidnapped because of you."  
"No one knows about Risu and I," Kakashi said coldly, "except for this team."  
"Oh? Only this team?" His face hardened. "That's a relief. Only a cowardly Chūnin, a temperamental bitch, a loud-mouthed snob, and an already potential target of the Akatsuki." His lip curled into a nasty sneer. "There's _no way_ they'd _possibly_ find out."  
Kakashi didn't reply. Yusha was doing his very best to antagonize him and he wasn't going to buy into it.  
"Oh but wait!" He feigned a look of alarm. "There's also that hot medic chick, Shizune-chan was it? She saw how intense you got over my sis during my unlawful confinement. And so did my uncle-which means Ino prolly knows too and _man_ is she a gossiper! Oh yeah, there's also Ibiki, and probably the Hokage, possibly your students and if Erisu has any friends they're bound to know too." He counted everyone off on his fingers. "But it's not as if that's a security risk at all. Nah, it's not as if any of these people might let slip that Cold-Blooded-Kakashi has an easily exploited weakness- AKA a secret lover."  
Yusha cocked his head and gave him a horrible twisted smile.  
"And sweet lil Erisu would never dare breathe a word about your sordid little affair because she wants to keep it a secret to protect you, right? That must be convenient for you! You can keep playing the bachelor, maybe pick up a side hoe here and there too and Erisu would never know cause she's too busy watching your back."  
He gave a short cold laugh. "Pretty genius actually for a guy who wants to avoid commitment."  
Kakashi had heard enough and turned to head back towards the forest, though he could no longer remember why he was even going in that direction.  
"You're too old for her!" Yusha said loudly.  
What he would give to be away from this lot and alone with a book...  
"Just think about it!" Yusha stalked over to him and blocked his path. "Even if you guys had a kid when she was twenty and you were thirty-"  
"...a kid?"  
"-you'd already be in your forties by the time they graduated the academy. Maybe their classmates wouldn't notice that their dad is an old guy since you keep your face hidden all the time and already have naturally grey hair but for Erisu..." He paused dramatically and Kakashi couldn't help wanting to know what he meant.  
Yusha leaned in and lowered his voice, "...is it really fair to doom her to a marriage bed where her spouse will become impotent before long?"  
Kakashi nettled. "I'm still in my prime-and-that's just-inappropriate."  
"It's goddamn statistics!" Yusha said loudly, throwing his hands in the air. "The same facts and figures that Erisu is so obsessed with. The same basic logic that makes her so 'intriguing'."  
Kakashi pushed past him and swept towards the tree line.  
"Don't walk away from me when I'm talking!" Yusha dashed after him. "Didn't your parents ever teach you common courtesy?"  
"I could ask you the same thing but considering your father is dead and your mother is a murderous cult leader I'd say the answer's likely 'no'."  
Steam might've issued from Yusha's ears. "Well the same cult leader raised Erisu and I think we can both agree that she's about as polite as it gets."  
Kakashi slowed and looked Yusha dead in the eye. "...she sure is. I wonder where she came from?" He turned sharply and strode into the woods but Yusha seemed to have marked him.  
"Is your ego bruised now that I pointed out that you might be serving boneless pork in a few years time?" Yusha asked in mock sympathy.  
"Well," a cheery voice sounded from the branches above. "Erisu _is_ a vegetarian."  
Yusha leapt out of his skin as two figures dropped from the canopy and landed in front of them. They'd walked right under Kiyomi and Sota's hiding place. Kakashi resigned himself to a complete loss of dignity.  
Yusha gave him his most annoying smirk. "Looks like your sex life with my sis is the topic of the day, huh Kakashi?"  
" _Psh_." Kiyomi tossed her glossy mane like a temperamental show horse. "Sota, please, everyone knows that vegetarian is just slang for 'won't do oral'."  
"Um..." Sota eyed her uncertainly. "Don't you mean slang for someone who can't hunt?"  
"It's _gay_ slang, darling."  
Sota goggled her incredulously. "...How do you know gay slang?"  
She flashed her pearly white teeth at him. "From hanging out with you so much."  
"Oh har de har har."  
"You and Yuma right, Sota?" She continued with that sadistic gleam in her eyes. "I thought I heard some passionate cries coming from your room the other night." She moaned loudly.  
Kakashi glanced around for an escape route.  
"There's rumours that he's pretty well endowed," Kiyomi went on, "wouldn't know myself as I personally didn't get that far with him, but you must be well acquainted with his weapon of ass destruction by now, amiright?"  
"Kiyomi!" Sota looked as if he had just been sentenced to death.  
Was this Kiyomi's way of getting back at Yuma for what he'd said about her temper or was she just trying to make everyone as uncomfortable as possible. Kakashi decided that it was both.  
"Do tell darling, cause I love hearing all the dirty details. Were you top or bottom?"  
" _Kiyomi_!" Sota said again rather shrilly, face red.  
"Oh god." Yusha looked as though he might be sick. "Don't talk about butt-fucking in front of me please."  
Of course, Kakashi rolled his eyes as he realized with no surprise that Yusha was the type that had no problems with girl on girl but would get mortally offended at the mention of two men.  
"Well you don't have a girlfriend so it's only reasonable to assume you're a booty bandit, right?" She was smiling like some sort of evil trickster spirit, revelling in his humiliation. "Have you confessed your love to him yet or are you two more like 'reluctant-friends-with-steamy-gay-benefits'?"  
"J-just because I'm not currently dating anyone..." Sota seemed to be falling apart. " _You_ don't have a boyfriend, Kiyomi! By your logic you must be into women!"  
"Well..." She slid her eyes in Erisu's direction. "I wouldn't say no to a night with Erisu-chan. I mean, she's as lickable as ice cream." She glanced at Yusha and added, "I hope you don't mind me saying so, honey, but your sis is the finest filet of fish I've ever seen and as we bathe together you know I've _definitely_ seen."  
"I do mind you saying!" Yusha fumed.  
Kiyomi disregarded him. "But she's probably a pillow-queen, so there's that. I'm not down for one-sided sex. In my opinion all parties should get off. Amiright, Sota?"  
"Kiyomi..." Sota repeated, sounding desperate now.  
"Yuma gets you off right? I mean he'd better. God knows you deserve to bust your load properly!"  
"Kiyomi," Sota said yet again, his scarred face perspiring slightly, "I'm not gay and I'm sure as hell not having sex with Yuma!"  
"Really?" She raised a brow and gave him a blatant once-over with her burgundy hues. "In that case..." With a swish of her jet black hair she stepped so close to him they were nearly touching. "You, me, handcuffs and whip cream." Her painted nails flicked a dead leaf from Sota's shoulder. "You in?"  
Sota looked as though he'd had a heart attack or possibly a stroke by the way he was gaping at her.  
Kakashi took advantage of the distraction to make his escape, backing silently into the trees while Yusha watched in interest as Kiyomi made very suggestive gestures and innuendos of such flowery and imaginative language that it was difficult to even understand what she was saying.  
Slipping out of sight and doubling back towards the clearing. Kakashi shook his head in wonder. Kiyomi could've given Jiraiya a run for his money where flamboyant over sexualisation was concerned. And though he was coming to the conclusion that Kiyomi's bizarre display had been her own unique way of saving him from his awkward situation he didn't condone her method. He _was_ grateful... but also mentally scarred.

 **火**

As the team finally turned away from the Land of Rice, the weather became increasingly undecided. Occasional bouts of icy rain assaulted the group of shinobi as they raced unhindered through the branches of the autumn wood. Leading the way through the red and gold leaves that flashed by, Kakashi couldn't help casting his eye back at Erisu repeatedly. She was still very pale and sick in appearance and her eyes had the sort of raw look of someone who'd been secretly crying.  
And yet she soldiered on, keeping pace with him. Though he noticed her taking dangerous amounts of food pills and stimulants he chose not to comment; he knew she was determined to make up for their lost time. He had a hunch that the sudden deaths of the young escapees had made her drive to rescue her siblings even more intense. Her brother Rūka was, after all, not much younger than the test subject who'd just died in her arms. Kakashi could only hope that she'd focus the sharp pain of grief into a blade of strength and resolve.  
Another hissing shower of painfully cold rain was bleeding through the canopy and stinging Kakashi's bare cheekbone. It would only be a few more kilometres until the rain became sleet, and sleet became snow. They were almost there.  
"Sempai!" Tenzō called from the centre of the formation, his voice oddly distant as the wind whipped it away. "We'll be reaching the border in only ten minutes time! We should stop to change into more appropriate gear!"  
Kakashi raised his fist and the team obediently slowed and dropped from the branches to the soggy leaves that carpeted the forest floor. Shaking water from his hair, Kakashi turned and inspected his team. As expected, Kiyomi, Yuma, and Tenzō were no worse for wear, as was Sota, but Erisu looked nearly faint and Yusha was a bedraggled mess. Kakashi doubted the delinquent had been this active in years, besides his little skirmish with Ebisu's team. He found himself privately relishing in the look of pained discomfort on Yusha's face as he gripped a stitch in his side, doubled over and panting.  
"Alright," Kakashi addressed the troupe briskly, "we'll rest for an hour. Get yourselves hydrated, cleaned up and cloaked. Eat if you need to. I want to be well into the Land of Iron by dawn."  
There was a collective reply of ossu and soon the team had dispersed to collect firewood and rummage through their bags. As Tenzō constructed a simplistic wooden house Yuma made his way over to Kakashi with an oddly resigned look on his face.  
"Sempai," he drawled in greeting, "I wanted to.." he paused and his jaw worked for a moment as if he was chewing his tongue. "I thought I should apologize for the way I acted earlier."  
Kakashi didn't respond. He could only peer at Yuma inquisitively through a narrowed eye.  
"I shouldn't have egged Kiyomi on," he continued with obvious difficulty, "and what I said about... Well." He cleared his throat loudly. "Erisu-chan pointed out how unjust I was while we were laying out the dead and I just wanted to say that I'm..." Again he looked as if he was fighting his own mouth to get the words out. "I'm... sorry if I put any strain on you as our captain. It wasn't my intention."  
Kakashi was so thankful for his mask at that moment.  
"I accept your apology," Kakashi replied carefully, "thank you."  
"Right," said Yuma very stiffly and his pupiless eyes flitted nervously towards where Erisu seemed to be expressing zealous acclaim over Tenzo's Shichūka no Jutsu.  
"How did she..?" Kakashi began to wonder aloud but Yuma gave him a dangerous look.  
"She's persuasive," the Hyūga snapped.  
"She is," Kakashi allowed, "but that never kept you from being awful before now, even to her. What did she do to make you so..." he couldn't keep the smile under control any longer as his eye crinkled in amusement. "...docile?"  
" _Docile_?" Yuma inflated with outrage as if Kakashi had just insulted him with the filthiest swears in existence. "I'm not docile!"  
"What did she do?" Kakashi pressed.  
Yuma glanced over at Erisu again, as if expecting her to be eavesdropping but she was still complimenting Tenzō to the point where he was now flustered and blushing.  
" _Sh-sllpd-meh_." He said in a rush.  
"What?"  
"She slapped me," his voice was so quiet Kakashi nearly didn't hear him.  
"Oh." The image of Erisu slapping Yuma was the most perfect picture Kakashi could imagine but he forced his voice to sound calm when he answered. "Is that all it took?"  
Yuma cast him a look of intense loathing. "I've done as she said," he growled, drawing himself up again. "Now If you'll excuse me I could really use a hot drink."

After a good wash to get all the blood and mud off of them, the team settled around a crackling fire and an odd lull fell over them. The campfire sent a flurry of embers into the air and Kakashi watched them dance through the lightly falling leaves like fireflies. Everyone was quiet, huddled in their heavy black cloaks against the cold, and Erisu looked as if she might melt into the fabric entirely.  
They were a dismal sight as they all stared blankly into the flames reflecting on the horrendous sight they'd witnessed only hours before. Kiyomi's flirting had been short-lived after she'd joined them all around the row of bodies. She looked horrified that she'd nearly assassinated a group of children. After Pakkun had left with a letter Erisu had penned up containing the names of the deceased, the events that'd lead to their deaths, and the location of their bodies the team had taken on a sort of solemn countenance. Even Yusha had been shaken once he actually saw how young the rogues had been.  
Yuma took the kettle off its spit and poured the boiling water through a sieve of tea leaves. Aromatic steam rose into the air but it did nothing to raise spirits. The Hyūga handed out tin camping cups without a word. Kakashi dipped his head in thanks as he accepted the tea but he wasn't too keen to drink in front of this crowd, not if it meant pulling down his mask. The warm metal was soothing on his cold fingers though as he gripped it tightly.  
Tenzō was at the edge of the firelight checking Yusha's vitals and refastening his shackles for the night. He declined the hot drink and focussed on his duty; he'd always been very serious about missions. Yusha accepted a cup with a grateful murmur and drank deeply. Kiyomi sipped her beverage, eyes gloomy and bored, while Erisu merely stared at the liquid as if seeing tea for the very first time.  
"Hey!" Sota's cheery voice broke the sense of gloom. "Look at that!" He pointed skyward with his cigarette and everyone raised their eyes to a break in the clouds. A swath of stars dappled the velvety black sky beyond the brittle leaves that fell around from the thinning canopy.  
"Stars?" Yuma glowered at his teammate, unimpressed. "What of them?"  
"You don't see stars like that in Konoha," Sota said with a lopsided grin, "there's too much light pollution! But out here, miles from any villages or outposts, it's like someone splattered the contents of a glow stick all over the sky!"  
Erisu's massive silvery eyes were reflecting the stars in their melancholy depths as she examined them carefully. Kakashi remembered how she'd made a constellation of Pakkun at Demon Lake and allowed himself a hidden smile. That festival seemed like a thousand years ago now. How he wished they could be back beneath the fireworks instead of running into danger.  
"Oy, Kakashi-sempai!"  
The copy ninja looked over at Sota suspiciously. "Hm?"  
Those asymmetrical black eyes of his sparkled playfully. "Do you sing?" Everyone's gaze turned in unison as they awaited his answer.  
"Eh..." He looked anxiously from face to face. "Not really."  
"Not even in the shower?" Sota pried as he tossed the butt end of his cigarette in the fire. "You must've sung with your parents at least."  
Kakashi watched the cigarette paper curl away, revealing the blackened filter beneath. "Not really," he repeated as his thoughts strayed briefly to his father's lifeless body.  
"What about you, Yamato-san?" Sota queried, "did you sing any nursery rhymes as a kid?"  
Tenzō grew disquieted as he reflected on his childhood as a test subject and weapon. "No."  
Sota's brows knitted and he looked over at the Hyūga who's pupiless eyes looked yellow in the light of the fire. "Yuma?"  
"The Hyūga Clan puts more effort into raising skilled ninja than teaching their kids how to sing," he said snidely.  
"Kira Kira Hikaru?" Sota asked and Yuma looked at him as if he'd sprouted a second head.  
" _What_?"  
"Y'know!" But Yuma's continued lack of recognition gave Sota pause. "Twinkle Twinkle..?"  
Kiyomi shook her head with a laugh that wasn't entirely good humoured. "Your parents never sang to you?" She scoffed. "No wonder you're so cold."  
Kakashi glanced at Tenzō who was standing as still as the trees surrounding them, eyes on the stars. The fact that the three out of the group who had become Anbu had also spent their childhoods training and repressing their emotions wasn't lost on Kakashi, though it left a foul taste in his mouth.  
"Well anyways!" Sota tried to deter the mood from its negative direction. "I was just thinking we should sing some campfire songs to combat the cold."  
"How can singing change the temperature?" Yuma demanded, then, upon realizing it'd been an expression, reduced to a slouch and scowl.  
Sota cleared his throat and started to sing in a surprisingly pleasant voice.

" _Kira kira hikaru, osora no hoshiyo_."  
The effect was instantaneous as everyone focused on his soft, melodious song.  
" _Mabataki shite wa_..."  
Then Erisu joined him, harmonizing in a sweet soprano that left the others spellbound.  
" _Minna o miteru. Kira kira hikaru, osora no hoshiyo_..."  
As the song ended on a calming two point harmony Erisu's face broke into a smile which Sota answered with a grin of his own. Kiyomi started giggling and soon the three of them were laughing aloud. It was contagious.  
Tenzō bowed his head, chuckling, and even Yuma smirked in spite of himself. Sota seemed to have the innate ability of spreading cheer. Kakashi's eyes rested thoughtfully on the scarred young man sitting next to Kiyomi and decided that Erisu had good taste in friends.  
"I haven't heard you sing in years," Yusha spoke up thoughtfully from beyond the reach of the firelight, "I'd almost forgotten how beautiful your voice is..."  
Erisu's smile faded and she lowered her eyes back to her tea. It was unnerving to witness how much of an effect he had on his sister even now, powerless as he was.  
"Would you sing that lullaby that mother used to sing to us?" Yusha asked of her. "She doesn't sing it anymore."  
"That's because it's secular," Erisu told her brother, a hint of the emotion she'd shown at the shrine seeping into her voice. "She only sings religious rhetoric now, doesn't she?"  
"Music is the most pure form of worship," Yusha said, trying to sound reasonable.  
When Erisu didn't respond he upped his attempt to persuade her. "Come on, I'll keep a beat for you."  
"I doubt the others would care to hear a song so sad," she mumbled.  
"Actually..." It was Kiyomi who spoke now. "I'd love to hear more of your voice." Sota nodded in agreement.  
Erisu turned her pallid face to her brother and studied his features for a few minutes before coming to a decision. "Fine," she said simply, "set the beat."  
He extended a shackled hand to her expectantly and with a stifled sigh Erisu untied the headband from her obi and tossed it to him. Rattling his chains into his hands he shivered the metal links across the forehead protector making an eerie metallic sigh. It was evident that him and Erisu had used a headband in this manner many times before. It was a slow melancholy sound reminiscent of a musical saw.  
When Erisu started to sing it was the most haunting and despairing song Kakashi had ever heard and it chilled him to the bone. Her lilting voice told of a swan who flew from the river-lands in search of a distant shore where the wood was lush and undying. Her voice quavered slightly as she described its flight over the sea to the promised land through storms and danger. Gazing skyward Erisu's face was lit by the starlight and was as pale as the moon, white as a swan. Then she hushed and the sound of her mournful melody was but a whisper as the swan's wings had faded away as it landed, only to realize the distant shore which it'd so longed to reach was arid and lifeless.  
She sounded as eerie and sorrowful as a lone loon as she sang of the swan's lament that it should die in a foreign land, never to be buried with its ancestors. As the lyrics came to an end, she vocalized softly on a slowly descending scale that could very well have been a curse of despair until her voice faded entirely and her eyes dropped back to her tea.  
As her voice was lost Yusha withdrew his chain from the headband and Kakashi realized, to his astonishment, that there were tears glistening in his silvery, green eyes. Erisu really was his weakness it seemed, but how and why was still a mystery to Kakashi.  
"Imōto," Yusha murmured breathlessly, "your voice rivals Mother's for sure..."  
She gave him an even look. "I'll try to consider that a compliment."  
Yusha's look of misty-eyed reverence cleared and his expression closed. "I don't know why you hate her so much," he said dangerously, "everything she did was for us."  
"Yusha," began Erisu warningly, "this isn't the time; we've been here before. Don't bring up family baggage in front of the team, please."  
"Well I think they should know the truth!" He said defiantly. "If they're going to kill her they should at least know how she got this way!"  
"No one said we're going to kill you mother," Sota slipped in nervously. "We're just trying to get Emi-chan and Rūka-kun to safety before Hakuchō-san enacts another life threatening curse."  
"Her name is _Akaiuma_ Aya!" Yusha was trembling with anger. "She's a married woman! Stop calling her by her maiden name like she's a common whore!"  
Sota looked as if he'd been slapped. "I never meant to imply-"  
"She only sold herself so we could eat!" Yusha shouted. "Everything she did was for us! She stayed with a drunk who beat her because it kept a roof over our heads! She put him under her jutsu because he had nearly killed her! She married Rokurou because he could provide for us! He could be the father we never had and get rid of our terrible reputation!"  
"Yusha, calm down," Erisu said quietly, "you're embarrassing yourself."  
"I'm not embarrassed!" He hollered. "I'm _proud_ to have a mother who'd give up her own dreams so that I could go to school, so we could have a proper family! You were too young to remember what it was like to be the bastard child of a drunkard and a whore!"  
"Maybe not," Erisu replied with unmatchable calm, "but I know what it is to be the 'abused delinquent child of a madwoman who chose a paedophile over her own daughter'. 'The girl who's own mother cursed her with death'."  
Everyone was silent, staring at Erisu in shock, even Yusha.  
"You..." his voice was barely more than a whisper but ever vowel and consonant was shaking with fury. "...you are so selfish."  
"I'm selfish?" Her eyes flashed with cold fury but her body was quite still as she remained at the fire side.  
"You'd let one mistake from years ago ruin our family?"  
"I wasn't the one who made the mistake," she answered with a voice so icy it was nearly unrecognizable. "Rokurou was the adult. He was in a position of power. I trusted him, loved him even. And he made the choice. Not me."  
Yusha was staring into her eyes unblinkingly, his pale irises trying to see right into her mind.  
"You're right."  
Erisu blinked and for a moment Kakashi wasn't sure who'd spoken until he realized Yusha was shaking again but no longer from anger.  
"What he did was wrong," Yusha told his sister fervently, "I've said it before and I'll say it again: it was wrong."  
Erisu's cup slipped from her hands but she didn't notice as her pink gaze searched her brother's intently.  
"But you have to rise above it!" He took a step towards her and both Kakashi and Tenzō tensed. "If you live your life in bitterness, believing yourself to be broken, that's all you'll ever be! You're not a victim, Imōto!"  
Erisu was frozen, staring at her brother as he edged towards her with Kakashi's eye following him closely.  
"Forgiveness doesn't excuse what he did," Yusha said fiercely, "but forgiveness does save your own heart from destruction."  
"He doesn't deserve her forgiveness!" Kiyomi said sharply, getting to her feet.  
"No." Yusha didn't take his eyes off his sister. "He doesn't. But you, Imōto, deserve to forgive."  
"Why are you saying this?" she asked him in a whisper. "What changed in the course of one day?"  
"Thirteen kids died at the unknowing hands of their own people," said Yusha soberly, "you wanted to try and save them even though everything you knew about them told you they were evil. You still believed they had a chance to do good, and you were right. Had they not died they'd be rebuilding the village, righting the wrongs of those before them. That chance was taken from them but you still managed to make them turn from darkness before the end, didn't you?"  
Kakashi assessed Erisu wordlessly, trying to read what she was thinking, what she was feeling, by the rigid lines of her form. But he couldn't get anything from her.  
"That's what you do, Erisu," Yusha went on and the anger was completely gone from his voice now, "You bring out the good in others. Why can't you do the same for Mother and Rokurou?"  
"Because," Erisu's words were almost drowned out by the crackling of the fire, "the good has to already be in them. I can't create something from nothing and they are too far gone."  
"No one is ever too far gone," he said with certainty, "I'm not, you're not, Mother isn't either. I bet even Orochimaru could've changed his ways if he'd heard the right words."  
"Enough," Erisu dragged her eyes away from him.  
"You don't want to listen cause you know I speak the truth!"  
"I already know the truth," she answered him, her face turned to the flames where amber lights danced across her irises. "My little brother and sister are in danger and I swore to protect them."  
"They're not in danger!" He said almost pleadingly, "they're serving God!"  
"I know only one god," Erisu said softly, still not looking at him, "and my god is a vow." Finally she raised her eyes to Yusha's and they burned with a cold fire that Kakashi had never seen before. "I will uphold my promise, no matter what that costs me."

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	54. Message from Author

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 **MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR**

 _ **Temporary Delay**_

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Salutations!

Apologies friends and fellows, but I'm experiencing some technical difficulties that will slow down my publishing rate for an unknown amount of time. My iPhone has conveniently decided to deactivate itself. Until I can get in contact with Apple to get my activation code to reinitialise the accused little machine, this story will be unfortunately on hiatus as the next chapter which I was planning on putting up on Saturday (after the final bout of editing) is on my phone and my phone alone. (remind me to email my documents to myself so as to prevent this from happening again)

Anywho, I'm really sorry for the delay but all my tech seems to be malfunctioning as of late. First my PSN signs me out without permission, then the charging port on my PS4 controller gets fucked up internally, and now my mobile's not working. _Vashedan_. The gods must be punishing me for not buying " _Breath of the Wild_ ". Curse you vile exchange rate that makes the Switch unaffordable in Canada!

Well, I'll try to get this Apple crap sorted out ASAP and will hopefully still have the next chapter, " _Oculesics_ ", ready by Saturday. Fingers crossed! (and maybe sacrifice a goat or two to the Gods of Gaming to appease them for my failure as a LoZ fan)

Until then, dif-tor heh smusma!

~Elle


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